


Dead Romance

by PandaTabby



Series: A Living Nightmare [3]
Category: Dead by Daylight (Video Game), Delitoonz - Fandom, Septiplier - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Deliritoonz - Freeform, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Epic Bromance, Fluff, Hate me if you want to, M/M, Septiplier - Freeform, Sorry Not Sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-06
Updated: 2017-02-27
Packaged: 2018-09-22 11:51:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 28,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9606455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PandaTabby/pseuds/PandaTabby
Summary: Avery Mellon is a 14 ½ year old girl who is a huge fan of the three YouTubers Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, and H2O Delirious, and her heart’s deepest desired wish is to get the chance to meet them all in person. Her dream comes true, but not in the way that she expected, or wanted. Instead of a dream, it’s more of a living nightmare.Map: MacMillion EstateKiller: The Trapper





	1. Reality Check

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome back! A few things to say before you get to reading this new part.
> 
> First of all, today is my birthday! YAY! February 6, 2001. Now I'm 16! It's weird though...! :O
> 
> As for the story, I apologize if it seems like someone has more content for their part than others. I was focusing more on them mostly because I was new to his channel and he was almost all I watched. Lol.

What happened in the real world after Mark, Jack, Avery, and Delirious fell into the game? They were all wondering what was going on, and just what  _ was _ going on? How long have they been in their “coma”? In truth, like the Journal had said, time was slower inside the game, and passed faster in the real world.

 

But what happened after they were zapped inside  _ Dead By Daylight _ ?

* * *

**Mark**

 

Chica rubbed her nose against Mark’s face, licking it occasionally. She could sense that something was wrong, since he wasn’t reacting to her at all. Chica whimpered and simply lay down again, placing her head over Mark’s chest. Why had her master suddenly gone still? It was concerning, even for a dog.

 

Meanwhile, outside the house, two people were just arriving. Matt and Ryan were meeting Mark for a skit that the three of them had planned to do yesterday, but never got around to it. There wasn’t anything going on today, so they were all pretty much free.

 

Chica raised her head when she heard the knock at the door. She leaped off the bed and ran over to it, barking. Whoever was at the door might be able to help!

 

“Sounds like Chica is excited,” Matt said when they heard Chica’s barking behind the door.

 

It was another minute before Matt’s expression turned to confusion. He tried knocking again, and Ryan pulled out his phone.

 

“Maybe he’s being lazy?” Ryan guessed when it went to voicemail.

 

“If Chica hasn’t woken him up yet, then probably.” Matt laughed lightly at his own words. “Should we come back later?” he asked with a raised brow when Chica had fallen silent inside the house.

 

Ryan shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe?”

 

Chica had given up on the door when everything was quiet after the second knock. She returned to Mark’s bedroom and jumped on the bed again, laying her head over his chest once more. What was wrong with him? Why wouldn’t he wake up?

 

It was several hours before Matt and Ryan came back, and when Mark still didn’t answer the door or his phone, they finally just let themselves in. Something was wrong, and Mark was obviously home, because his car was still in the garage, and Chica was immediately greeting them at the door when they walked in.

 

“Whoa, hey there, Chica!” Ryan laughed as Chica started jumping on him.

 

She started barking again and walking back and forth between the guys and the hall that led to Mark’s bedroom. Matt and Ryan looked at each other with slight confusion. It was almost as though Chica was trying to tell them that something was wrong. They followed her to Mark’s bedroom, where they found him still asleep.

 

“How much sleep can one guy get?” Ryan asked, bewildered.

 

“Maybe he was up late?” Matt suggested.

 

“That’s a good enough reason,” Ryan said.

 

An awkward silence fell between the two of them, until Matt said, “Should we wait or leave?”

 

Ryan’s eyebrows raised and Matt took it as he had no idea what they should do. They weren’t even sure if Mark was just joking around or was seriously out cold, but they finally decided to wait around until he woke up.

 

Chica kept following them everywhere, trying to get them back to Mark, which was confusing for a while. Until a full hour passed and Matt finally got annoyed. He went to Mark’s room with Chica right on his heels.

 

Ryan was waiting in the kitchen when Matt suddenly shouted his name. He ran down to Mark’s room to find Matt with a panicked expression.

 

“What?” Ryan asked, suddenly worried.

 

“I think that something’s wrong!” Matt’s words were rushed.

 

“What do you mean? Can you not wake him?” Ryan asked, stepping into the room.

 

Matt shook his head quickly. “No, I can’t, and there’s something else.” Matt gestured to the sheets, which were stained red.

 

“Is that. . .” Ryan looked at the stain, and then at Matt. “Blood?!” he gasped, his eyes widening.

 

“We got to get him out of here, find out what’s going on.” Matt went to drag Mark off the bed.

 

Ryan helped him, and got really worried when Mark didn’t even react. Something was definitely wrong. They took him outside and got him into the backseat of Matt’s car before climbing into the front. Matt started the engine and drove off down the road. They reached the hospital almost forty-five minutes later, and Ryan stayed in the car with Mark while Matt went inside for help.

 

It wasn’t long before Mark was taken inside for testing while Matt and Ryan waited in the lobby. They grew impatient as the minutes passed, and then finally a doctor came out to speak with them. Matt and Ryan looked at him expectantly.

 

“I’m afraid to say that your friend is in a coma,” the doctor said. “We can’t find a cause for it, but we’re still looking.”

 

Ryan looked nervously to Matt, who was silent with shock.

 

“When did you last speak with him?” the doctor asked.

 

“Yesterday. Something must have happened while Mark was still asleep that he just won’t wake,” Matt said.

 

The doctor nodded. “That information could help us diagnose the problem so we can begin treatment.” The doctor wrote something down on his clipboard before looking up at Matt and Ryan again. “May I ask about the injury to his leg?”

 

“We found him like that, actually.” Matt explained.

 

“All right, well, I believe that is all.” The doctor clicked his pen and slipped it into his chest pocket.

 

Matt and Ryan left the hospital a while later, after seeing Mark one last time.

 

“What should we tell the others?” Ryan asked as Matt pulled up to the front of Mark’s house again.

 

“I don’t know, but it isn’t just the rest of the guys that we need to tell,” Matt said.

 

Ryan knew that he was talking about the fans, who would obviously want some answers as to why Mark was suddenly not uploading. But the inactivity on his account was a problem that didn’t have a solution.

 

Matt and Ryan took care of some things, specifically for Chica, before returning home. Everyone else was alerted to what Matt and Ryan had found, and that made the fans and Jack the only ones left to find out. For some reason though, Jack wasn’t answering any calls or messages from the guys, and they eventually gave up. He would see them at some point and likely respond to one of them.

 

An excuse for Mark’s inactivity was posted over twitter, and it seemed like the fans were satisfied with the reason. They didn’t know that Mark was actually in a coma, but thought that he was busy with his family. Which, in a word, was true. They had all gone down to L.A. after learning of the real situation.

 

Tom was staying at Mark’s taking care of Chica, and visited the hospital everyday with his mother and Dee.

 

However long Mark was in his coma for, they would wait for him to wake for as long as they could.

* * *

**Avery**

 

Avery was discovered more quickly, since she still lived with her parents. Her mother was just about to head out to pick up some things from the store and went to ask Avery if there was anything she might have wanted. It was unlike Avery to still be asleep at this time, but her mother left her anyways.

 

When she came back about an hour later, she got worried. Frank hadn’t come back from his time at the bar with his buddies last night, and Mary just figured that he was wasted again.

 

Mary tried gently shaking Avery awake, but she didn’t react.

 

“Avery?” Mary whispered, turning her daughter over onto her back.

 

Immediately, Mary knew that something was wrong. Avery was pale, and her breath was so light that it looked as though she wasn’t breathing at all. Mary pulled the blanket of of Avery and picked her daughter up. She carried her downstairs and lay her across the couch. She took Avery’s temperature; it was normal. Her pulse was even, and there didn’t appear to be anything else wrong with her that Mary could see. Not externally.

 

She would have to take Avery in for further testing.

* * *

**Jack**

 

Jack wasn’t answering calls or messages from anyone, and they all thought that he was just busy, but it was due to an entirely different reason. Jack was still lying on his floor. Now that he lived alone again, there was no one to find him that way, unless someone broke in or something.

 

As it happened, one of Jack’s neighbors had borrowed something from him and was just returning it now. They knocked on Jack’s door and waited for a minute before trying again. When Jack still didn’t answer, they just left the item at the door, knowing that it would be noticed sooner or later.

 

It didn’t really occur to the neighbor that something was wrong, since it was so quiet, but he simply thought that Sean wasn’t currently home. He did what he did everyday; went to work, and spent some time with his sister afterwards, and it was only when he finally got home around 8pm that he thought something wasn’t right.

 

The container was still the way he’d left it, and the apartment was still strangely quiet. He knocked on the door again, and even tried the knob, finding that the door was unlocked. He hesitated on pushing the door open, but was glad he did.

 

Sean was on the floor, and it looked like he had been for a while. The neighbor ran forward and turned Jack over. He was pale and sickly looking, and the neighbor quickly pulled out his phone and dialed the emergency number.

 

“I’ve jus found my neighbor passed out on his floor, and I can’t wake him!” he explained hurriedly after being asked about his problem.

 

The neighbor gave his location and didn’t leave Jack’s side the whole time he waited for the ambulance to arrive. This was serious, and he didn’t know how long Sean had been like this. Had he been unconscious all day? Longer?

 

The neighbor was asked a few questions before Jack was taken away to the hospital, and he could only watch as the ambulance disappeared into the distance before finally going back inside.

 

Nearly an hour later, Jack’s parents were waiting in the lobby for news. It was getting late, and they were already worried as it was. It was just going to get worse.

* * *

**Delirious**

 

Luke had left the skype call telling Jonathan to get some sleep, but he didn’t mean that deeply. It was now the next morning and Luke was just editing a video he’d recorded with Bryce, Moo, and Mini Ladd yesterday. He’d woken up pretty early, and was starting think that he was the one who should get to sleep.

 

Even so, Luke just stayed up, staring at his computer screen blankly while he waited for the whole video to actually load onto the program. It was still too early to call Jonathan now, and Luke didn’t even know if he’d done what he’d told him. He could have been up the whole night for all he knew.

 

Again. . .

 

It wasn’t the first time that Jonathan had done this. Once, he’d gone on an editing spree and didn’t get any sleep for nearly twenty-four hours. Then there was that other time that he thought someone was out to get him and couldn’t even  _ get _ to sleep. Not until Luke went over to his house to calm him down. Sometimes Luke just didn’t understand why Jonathan played some of the games he had.

 

Finally, the video had loaded in and Luke started editing. It took several hours, but he put it to upload when he was done checking it over. It was now around nine, so he went to make himself some food and dialed up Jonathan while he was at it. He figured Jonathan was either busy or hadn’t listened to him and was now out cold when his call went to voicemail.

 

“Jonathan, if this has gone to voicemail because you didn’t listen to me, I swear I will come over there and find out what’s going on.” Luke grumbled. “But other than that, there was something I wanted to ask you. So just call me back later.” Luke hung up before returning to his food.

 

He wasn’t actually worried about Jonathan not calling back at all. He didn’t really get how he managed it sometimes, but Jonathan  _ always _ called back within the first three hours of a missed call. If it ever went over that amount of time, then it meant that something was wrong. There was no way that Jonathan had managed to stay awake for very long after their skype call ended yesterday, so he would respond to Luke soon.

 

So, over the next few hours, Luke was recording another video, and then he checked his phone. It had only been two hours, so there was still time left. Luke didn’t really do anything else for a while after that, and he dozed off at some point. When he woke up, it had been nearly four hours.

 

Luke looked around for his phone, but couldn’t find it. He turned off the TV and got up, looking over the room. He found his phone on the shelf next to the TV and swiped his finger across the screen. Luke’s eyebrows scrunched together when he saw that he had a few text messages, but none of them were from Jonathan. And he didn’t have any missed calls, either.

 

Something wasn’t right.

 

Luke dialed Jonathan again and paced a little as he listened to it ring. He knew for sure that something was wrong when it went again to voicemail. He thought for a minute or two, trying to think of something to do before going over to Jonathan’s. He wanted to be sure that something was wrong before going over there and finding himself in an awkward situation.

 

Luke finally figured it out and called Evan. Jonathan always answered for him, no matter what he was doing. It was kind of weird to be honest.

 

Halfway through the second ring, Evan picked up. “Yo,” he said immediately.

 

“Hey, Evan? I think something’s wrong with Jonathan,” Luke said quickly.

 

Evan was quiet for a few seconds. “Care to elaborate?” he asked.

 

“He’s not answering my calls, and it’s been more than three hours since the first time I called him, and he hasn’t called back or even messaged me.” Luke explained, breathing quickly.

 

“Whoa, dude, calm down,” Evan said. “Are you sure?”

 

“Yes!” Luke’s voice was louder than he meant it to be. “Sorry, I’m just really out of it now, all of a sudden.” he explained quickly.

 

“That’s fine. I’ll try calling him, and I’ll get back to you?” Evan said.

 

“Yeah, that sounds great,” Luke agreed.

 

“All right, I’ll be back with you in a minute or so,” Evan said before he hung up.

 

Evan first tried Jonathan’s phone, and started feeling Luke’s worry when he got voicemail. Evan didn’t leave a message and went quickly to his computer. He tried contacting Jonathan through Skype, gave up after a few lengthed tries, and called Luke back.

 

“Nothing,” Evan said the moment that Luke picked up, which was almost immediately.

 

“Seriously?!” Luke sounded frightened through the phone.

 

“Didn’t pick up, and never answered any of my skype calls.” Evan explained.

 

“All right, I’m heading over there right now,” Luke said, heading outside. “I’ll let you know what’s going on and I’ll even tell the rest of the guys if I have to.”

 

Luke hung up and climbed into his car. He started the engine and backed out of his driveway, heading towards Jonathan’s house. Parking on the street in front of the house, Luke got out and hurried up to the door. Even though Jonathan had given him a spare key and he had the ability to, Luke knew that he shouldn’t just go barging in. If Jonathan was just refusing to answer his phone, or couldn’t because it was either dead or his bill wasn’t paid, then it would be pretty weird if Luke just walked in.

 

So Luke waited a minute after ringing Jonathan’s doorbell before letting himself in. The house was quiet, and Luke was beginning to think that Jonathan just wasn’t home. There was a clicking noise and then Jonathan’s dog, Spike, came into view. Luke bent over to scratch him behind the ears, receiving a lick on the hand in return.

 

“Hey, Spike. Where’s Del?” Luke asked the brown and white dog.

 

Spike barked and padded away. Luke didn’t follow him, but instead looked around. Jonathan’s phone was on the kitchen counter, and it looked like he wasn’t the only one who had tried contacting him. His two calls plus Evan’s only made three, and when Luke looked at it, the phone said that there were five missed calls, one of them being recent. More recent than Evan’s.

 

Luke wandered through the different rooms for a short minute, before finally heading into Jonathan’s basement. He had his recording room down here, so if anything, he would have to be there, since he wasn’t anywhere else in the house.

 

“Del?” Luke called out at the bottom of the stairs. No response. “Jonathan? Are you down here?”

 

Luke stopped outside the Jonathan’s recording room. The door was closed, so he gave a quick, loud knock. Silence. He pushed open the door. What he saw made him roll his eyes.

 

Jonathan. Asleep. At the computer.

 

“Really, Del? How long did you stay awake for this time? Geez.” Luke stood next to Jonathan and saw that he was still wearing his mask.

 

He took it off carefully and placed on the desk. Even though he would have to wake him up, he tried not to. Mostly because he couldn’t help but smile at the peaceful expression on Jonathan’s face. He was adorable sometimes, and it was ridiculous.

 

“Come on, man. Wake up.” Luke shook Jonathan gently. He tried again a little harder when Jonathan didn’t react. “Holy shit, just how deeply can you sleep?” Luke was totally bewildered when he sat Jonathan up in his chair and he still didn’t wake.

 

This couldn’t have been normal. Jonathan didn’t sleep  _ that  _ deeply. . . Did he? It was then that Luke noticed the stain. It was dark, and reddish looking, and located on the lower right sleeve of Jonathan’s blue sweater. Luke moved around the chair and lifted the sleeve up Jonathan’s arm to reveal a cut. It wasn’t very big, but it was fresh, so Luke got really worried.

 

“Jonathan?” Luke looked at his best friend’s face and noticed how pale it appeared to be. Luke spun the chair around so that Jonathan’s front was facing him. “Dude, would you wake the fuck up?!”

 

Luke grabbed Jonathan’s legs and practically pulled him out of the chair. He picked him up under the arms, and carried him to the stairs. Spike was sitting at the top, watching as Luke dragged Jonathan up one step at a time. Once he was finally at the top of the stairs, he readjusted Jonathan’s position, so that he was now carrying him bridal style out to his car. He put him in the back seat before going back inside to let Spike out into Jonathan’s backyard.

 

After that, Luke was quickly driving to the hospital. He knew Jonathan well enough to know that he never slept this hard. Something wasn’t right, and it was scary just thinking about what might be wrong. Luke called ahead, alerting the nearest hospital that he was coming, and pulled into the entrance they had told him to.

 

He quickly climbed out of his car to help with getting Jonathan inside, before he went to find a place to park. When Luke went back inside the building, he could only wait by the doors. One of the doctors that had been waiting to bring Jonathan in came back to the entrance and gestured for Luke to follow him.

 

Luke’s heart was beating fast from his worry and fear for Jonathan, and he was nervously curling and uncurling his fingers as he followed the doctor through the hallways. They stopped outside one of the rooms and Luke was told to wait outside the door. He paced a little in front of the closed door, impatiently waiting for word. His phone suddenly went off and Luke jumped, but he quickly silenced it before it caused any kind of disturbance.

 

It was a text message from Evan.

 

_ E- I thought that you would let me know what’s wrong right away? _

 

Luke sighed as he typed in his reply.

 

_ L- I didn’t say right away, Evan, I just said I would let you know. _

 

_ E- And do you know? _

 

_ L- Not entirely. Del was at his computer when I found him, and for some reason I just couldn’t wake him up. _

 

_ E- Aww, did he look too at peace? _

 

_ L- Lol, actually he did. But that’s not what I mean. I tried to wake him up, but he wouldn’t wake. _

 

_ E- What did you do? _

 

_ L- I’m at the hospital awaiting word right now, actually. I brought him here after I saw he was bleeding. I basically panicked. _

 

_ E- Hey, it’s okay. I would do the same. How long have you been waiting? _

 

_ L- Not very long. A few minutes at the least. _

 

_ E- Let me know what’s going on as soon as you can. _

 

_ L- I will. I’ll tell you and whoever else of the group is available when I get home. _

 

Luke put his phone away and went back to pacing. It was another few minutes before the door finally opened. He turned quickly on the spot to face the doctor. His stomach dropped when he saw the doctor’s expression.

 

“How long ago was it that you last made contact with Jonathan?” the doctor asked.

 

“Uh, last night. Just before ten.” Luke answered.

 

“All right, well, I’m afraid that he’s in a coma, and we can’t find the reason as to why.” the doctor explained.

 

Luke’s heart dropped as the shock filled his brain. “A coma?” he repeated breathlessly.

 

The doctor nodded sadly. “We’ll try to do what we can, but otherwise all that we can do is wait for him to wake up.”

 

Luke didn’t know what to think of this news. He rubbed his hands over his eyes, preventing the tears that had begun to well up from slipping down his face. It was a few hours after he got home that Luke finally skyped Evan.

 

Tyler, Craig, Bryce, and Brock joined the call, and most of them figured something was up just by the look on Luke’s face.

 

“Okay, what’s this about?” Tyler asked.

 

“It’s about Delirious,” Evan explained.

 

“Why? Did something happen?” Bryce asked, suddenly concerned.

 

“Yeah,” Luke said slowly.

 

“Whoa, is he okay?” Craig moved forward a little in his chair.

 

“I honestly don’t know,” Luke said. “He was like that when I found him.”

 

“Wait, is he dead?!” Tyler gasped suddenly.

 

“What? No!” Luke explained quickly. “But. . . he is in a coma.”

 

Everyone fell silent. Luke scratched his forehead. “They don’t know what’s caused it, which really just makes it worse,” he said.

 

“How long ago did you find this out?” Brock asked.

 

Luke hesitated. “A couple of hours.” he answered finally.

 

“How are we. . . How should we take care of this problem?” Bryce asked.

 

“What problem? There’s nothing we can do,” Evan said.

 

“No, I mean what about his channel? Surely there’s still some way we can keep his subscribers from getting concerned?” Bryce said.

 

Luke paused. Bryce made a good point. How would they keep Jonathan’s fans from getting worried about him?

 

“I have to head over there to take care of Spike anyways, so I could probably upload one of his backup videos?” he suggested.

 

“That could work,” Craig said.

 

“Yeah,” Brock agreed. “But for how long?”

 

“I don’t know, but I’ll try to keep it constant,” Luke said. “I don’t actually know how many videos Del has currently recorded and ready, but I’ll figure out some kind of schedule.”

 

“All right, well, as long as we can keep things at ease. Not let any of our fans know what’s really going on with Delirious,” Tyler said.

 

Silence fell between the six of them for a few moments, before Brock spoke up. “So, how are we going to tell the others?” he asked.

 

“Through private messaging, obviously,” Evan said.

 

“Yeah, it’s the only logical way,” Craig said pointedly.

 

While Craig, Tyler, Brock, Evan, and Bryce argued over the simplest things of the problem at hand, Luke was slowly drifting off into his thoughts.

 

Jonathan was really tired when they were talking yesterday, and Luke had told him to get some sleep and then ended the call. The next thing he knows, Jonathan is in a coma. Had there been something wrong with Jonathan that was making him so tired? Had Luke basically fated his best friend to his possible death?

 

Was this all Luke’s fault?

 

“Cartoonz, are you okay? You’ve gone all distant suddenly.” Bryce brought Luke from his thoughts.

 

“What?” Luke felt his heart skip a beat. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

 

Evan leaned in closer to his camera, a brow raised. “You sure?” he asked slowly.

 

Bryce, Craig, Tyler, and Brock were all looking unconvinced by his words, like Evan, and Luke sighed. “Honestly. . . no, I’m not.” He pressed his face into one of his hands.

 

“How so?” Tyler asked.

 

“I don’t know why. . . I guess I’m just blaming myself for this.” Luke explained tiredly.

 

“Wait, how does finding Delirious the way you did make it your fault?” Evan asked. “You basically saved him.”

 

Luke shook his head. “No, I was talking with him last night and he was really tired, so I told him to get some sleep.” Luke could feel his eyes getting wet with tears. “I should have noticed something was wrong. . .”

 

“Hey! Luke, calm down! It isn’t your fault!” Brock exclaimed.

 

“You couldn’t have known unless Jonathan told you, and he would have to know something’s not right with himself just to do so,” Craig said.

 

Luke looked at his computer screen and saw that everyone was looking directly into their camera. He could tell by the expressions on their faces that they were being serious.

 

Luke looked away from his computer. “I know, but I can’t help but feel some sort of responsibility over him.” he sighed.

 

“Hey, it’s understandable. You’re like a brother to him,” Bryce said. “You just feel that sibling responsibility, right?”

 

“That’s about right, yeah.” Luke looked back at his computer again. The reason was actually something else, but he wasn’t going to say it out loud to the guys.

 

“Okay, but you should really remember that there are other people who care about him and that he’s not just  _ your  _ responsibility.” Bryce pointed out. “And I’m pretty sure that he’s able to take care of himself.” He added.

 

“You’ll let us know how his condition progresses over the next few days, won’t you?” Craig asked.

 

“Yeah, I will.” Luke promised.

 

The call ended and Luke was left alone. He sat at his desk for several minutes before heading back over to Jonathan’s. He took care of Spike; letting him outside and feeding him, and then trying to figure out if he should leave him here or take Spike to his place. Finally deciding to just bring him with, Luke grabbed the few things that Jonathan had for his dog and put them into his car.

 

Spike must have figured that he was being taken somewhere, because when Luke went back inside the house, he was all over him.

 

“Okay, calm down, Spike!” Luke kneeled over, though immediately regretted it when he was ambushed with face licks as he tried to attach Spike’s leash to his collar. “All right, come on,” he said as he stood up again and wiped his shirt over his face.

 

Once in the car again, Luke started the engine and looked at Jonathan’s house momentarily before finally driving back home. The rest of the day was very uneventful, with only the silence to surround him. Luke didn’t know why, but he was up late, staring blankly at his ceiling while Spike snored lightly on the floor next to the bed.

 

It was a while before Luke fell asleep, though he didn’t remember doing so when he woke up the next morning. It was almost eight when he did, and Luke really didn’t want to get up. For more than one reason. It wasn’t just because of Jonathan’s coma and the fact that it was still too early, it was also because he  _ couldn’t _ get up.

 

Spike was lying directly over him, preventing Luke from actually being able to move. When Luke was finally unable to stay in bed, he woke up the dog and slipped onto the floor and half dragged himself to the bathroom. When he’d eaten breakfast and fed Spike, letting him outside into the yard afterwards, he left to run the arrends he had to that morning.

 

Luke was gone for several hours, and when he was finally able to go home, he went in the opposite direction, towards the hospital.

 

Nothing had changed with Jonathan’s state, and the doctors were still unsure of what had caused his coma in the first place, so they couldn’t do any kind of treatment. Luke really hated having to tell the guys, even though this was really just day two, that nothing had changed.

 

“Well, at least he’s not getting any worse?” Marcel said.

 

“Yeah, that’s true,” Evan agreed.

 

“But he’s not getting any better, either.” Luke sighed.

 

Hours were slow as hell for Luke all of a sudden, and he just wanted time to fly and for Jonathan to wake up. He wanted him to get better, not worse, like he discovered had happened the next day.

 

It was around noon, and Luke was just arriving at the hospital to see Jonathan, when a doctor walked up to him. Luke recognized him as the one who had helped in bringing Jonathan inside when Luke had brought him in.

 

“You are here to see your friend?” the doctor asked.

 

“Yeah,” Luke said. “Did something happen?” he was worried by the look on the doctor’s face.

 

“Yes, though we have no idea how,” the doctor said. “Follow me.”

 

The doctor, Dr. Jameson, led Luke out of the lobby and down several hallways. He stopped when they reached the room that Jonathan was supposed to be in, but it was empty. Luke’s heart began to pound as he started to panic.

 

“We are not sure how it happened, but Jonathan was discovered just a few minutes ago with a major injury,” Dr. Jameson explained.

 

Now confusion took hold inside Luke’s head. “Major injury? But I thought that all he had was that one scratch on his arm?” he looked suspiciously at the doctor in front of him.

 

“Exactly, which is why we’re just as puzzled,” Dr. Jameson said.

 

“Okay, then, what kind of injury?” Luke asked.

 

“It was in his left shoulder,” Dr. Jameson handed Luke a X-Ray photo. “We discovered his collarbone completely shattered and the muscle was torn apart. It looks almost as though he’d been stabbed there, but the skin was unmarked.”

 

Luke was in total bewilderment and shock. How the hell. . . ? What he was seeing must have been Jonathan’s left shoulder, but there was no way that it was still the same thing. What should have been one solid piece, was in small bits. How was his collarbone and shoulder blade suddenly like this? There had been nothing wrong with it when Luke had found Jonathan.

 

“Is he still. . . ?” Luke looked up at Dr. Jameson, his eyes full of fear.

 

“Currently, we still have him in the emergency surgery,” Dr. Jameson explained. “If everything goes well, Jonathan should still be able to use his left arm once it’s fully healed.”

 

That much was a relief to Luke. Damage like what he was seeing in the image in his hands wasn’t something that would allow continued use if left alone. Just the fact that Jonathan was even still alive was huge.

 

“We’ll let you know how the surgery goes if you want us to?” Dr. Jameson asked.

 

“Uh, yeah. Please do,” Luke responded quickly.

 

Dr. Jameson nodded before he left Luke in the room. Luke was quick to leave, though. He couldn’t stand another minute at that hospital for some reason, and he wasn’t sure why. Normally he would want to wait around for word of how it went. The moment Luke was in his car again, he was immediately texting Evan.

 

_ L- It’s bad. _

 

It was a few seconds before Evan responded.

 

_ E- What happened? _

 

_ L- I just arrived at the hospital to hear something absolutely horrible. _

 

_ E- What? _

 

_ L- Jonathan was taken into an emergency surgery for something that happened with his shoulder. I’ve got no clue how it happened, but then again, neither do the doctors. _

 

_ E- Seriously, Luke. WHAT HAPPENED?! _

 

_ L- Somehow Jon’s left shoulder was ripped apart on the inside. His collarbone was completely shattered and his muscle is torn up. They said it looked like he’d been stabbed with something, but his skin was untouched. _

 

_ E- That’s not weird or supernatural sounding in any way. . . _

 

_ L- Ikr? It has me extremely worried. _

 

_ E- How long ago did you discover this? _

 

_ L-  Like, about ten minutes ago. _

 

_ L- Not even. _

 

_ E- Okay, how do we tell the others? They want to know what’s going on. _

 

_ L- I don’t know, just figure out some way to tell them! _

 

_ E- Luke, are you okay? _

 

_ L- NO I AM NOT OKAY!! I JUST FOUND OUT MY BEST FRIEND BASICALLY ALMOST DIED!! _

 

_ E- . . . _

 

_ L- . . . Sorry, I’m just really stressed out right now. _

 

_ E- No, that’s okay. I’m just as worried about him as you are. I’m sure that everyone is. _

 

_ L- Right, I know. _

 

Luke had his forehead pressed against his steering wheel for several minutes before he sent one last message to Evan.

 

_ L- I just want this all to be over. . . for him to wake up. _

 

_ E- We all do. _

 

Luke started his car again and left the parking lot. He drove home in silence, tears slowly slipping down his face. His vision was blurred so that he eventually had to wipe his eyes to clear it.

 

And in that short moment, he couldn’t see what was in front of him. Even though Luke let off on the gas pedal just a bit, he was at an intersection in his neighborhood. And there was another car coming. When Luke looked ahead of him again, it was too late.

 

He finally saw the car driving towards him and slammed his foot on the breaks, hoping that he wasn’t too late to stop, but they weren’t watching the road and crashed right into the side of his vehicle.

 

There was a loud crunching sound of metal on metal, and of the side of Luke’s car scraping the asphalt road. Luke could feel several of his bones break as he was crushed by the impact of the other car. His car was finally rolled over onto the roof, and Luke was was knocked out.

 

When he came to shortly afterwards, his whole body ached and burned with pain, and there was blood spilling down his face and arms, and pooling on the roof of his car. His whole body was in pain, but the part that seemed to hurt the most was his head. His vision was all foggy, and Luke couldn’t quite make out what was going on or what was around him, but he could tell that he was upside down.

 

He heard the faint noise of another car door opening, and then a scream. Luke was beginning to lose consciousness again and finally passed out when the sound of wailing sirens was heard in the distance.

 

Jonathan, or Delirious, had wished that Luke had been with him inside the game, bad enough to make it happen. What helped was that Luke just wanted Jonathan to wake up, come back to him.

 

So, like the others, Luke was pulled into the game.


	2. The Misty Forest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Try thinking hard about some things that occur in this chapter. Some of the words and the way their ordered may or may not be a hint of foreshadowing!

The air was cold, and Jack opened his eyes to see a thin canopy of dark leaves high above him. He sat up and looked around, seeing mist and trees everywhere. This was most certainly The Macmillian Estate, and the monster this time was most certainly to be The Trapper. But Jack didn’t really seem to care at the moment. He knew that he should start looking for Delirious and Avery, but why bother when it was just those two?

 

Mark had been snatched by The Hillbilly at the last second, and Jack hadn’t been able to save him. By now Mark was dead, and Jack couldn’t do anything about it. His best friend was gone, and Jack could never tell him how he felt.

 

Jack moved backward over the ground until he was against the tree above him. His eyes welled up with tears and his side hurt just slightly. But surprisingly, the pain felt good, and Jack’s chest began to throb as he cried. Cried from the pain. Cried for Mark.

 

The one person in the world that he truly loved.

 

Avery woke up and was quickly on her feet. She was in the Killer’s Shack, but didn’t stay for too long. She had to find Delirious before something happened to him. Avery left the small building and started following a trail of discarded objects. Objects like thin bars of metal, probably once hooks, and crates of old things. Nothing specific, just old items that had once belonged to the Macmillan family.

 

There was a heavy mist engulfing the area, but Avery was able to maneuver her way through it, dodging a large bear trap that lay open at one point. Avery was still walking around when she heard a noise and stopped. She listened intently, trying to figure out if it was one of the others or The Trapper. It must have been Mark, Jack, or Delirious, because it sounded like. . . sobbing?

 

Slowly, Avery moved towards the sound, and then she saw Jack sitting underneath one of the trees. Why was he crying, though?

 

“Jack?” Avery said, freezing when Jack looked up and saw her.

 

“Oh, hey. . . Avery,” Jack looked uncertainly at the ground in front of him as Avery approached him.

 

“Are. . . you okay?” Avery asked.

 

“No,” Jack said, sniffling.

 

Avery looked around nervously. “What. . . what happened?” she asked.

 

“It’s just the three of us, now,” Jack said. “You, me, and Delirious. Mark never made it off of Coldwind Farm. Tha fookin` Hillbilly grabbed him at the last second and forced me past the barrier so that I couldn’t save him. . .” Jack explained, his voice cracking.

 

Shock overwhelmed Avery right then and there. Mark was. . . dead? She didn’t know how to react to this, and only knew that she felt guilt all over for Mark’s death.

 

“I. . . never wanted it to be like this,” Avery said quietly. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. . .” Avery fell back against the tree, her legs barely able to hold her up all of a sudden.

 

Jack wiped his hands over his eyes.  _ Neither did I,  _ he thought.

 

Avery took a deep breath and stood up straight again, forcing determination to fill her. “I won’t stand for any more of this, Jack,” she said. “I promise you that I will get you and Delirious outta here, even if I can’t follow. I got us all into this, and I will get you guys out. If making sure that you two live costs me my own life, then so be it!”

 

Jack looked up at Avery quickly. “What?! No! You can’t just give yourself up like that!” he protested.

 

Avery didn’t listen to Jack’s protest, and she marched off in search of Delirious. Jack sighed heavily as he watched her before finally getting to his feet. He couldn’t just let Avery go off on her own, she would probably end up getting herself killed before either of them got out of the game.

 

“Avery, slow down!” Jack called after Avery when she had pulled ahead quite a bit.

 

Avery stopped and looked behind her at Jack. “Sorry, I just really want to find Delirious and fix the generators so that we can finally get out of here,” she said.

 

“Wait, you mean that this is the last map we’ll be facing?” Jack asked, getting excited.

 

Avery thought for a moment. “Well, there is one more that we might end up on, but I’m not sure. There is probably a high chance of it, though,” she said plainly.

 

“Another map?” Jack asked, confused.

 

Avery never answered him and kept walking. Jack could only follow her through the trees in silence. Avery didn’t seem to want to listen to him, and would just ignore any of Jack’s protests.

 

They walked in silence for a while, until they came across a generator. Avery was immediately working to repair it, but Jack looked around first before joining in to help. The wires took Jack longer than normal, but he eventually got them all tied together and moved on to the rest of the parts. Avery had changed sides, and was already almost done with the second one.

 

_ She’s trying to keep her mind off of it _ , Jack guessed.

 

He was trying to keep his own mind off of Mark, too. He wanted to think about something else, like escaping, but it always went back to Mark. Like how he wouldn’t be escaping  _ with _ them.

 

Finally, the light above the generator came on, and Jack and Avery took off, leaving it behind them. Once they were a fairly safe distance away, they finally stopped.

 

“That’s one of however many,” Avery said.

 

“The sooner we find the safe point, the better. Not only will we know how many generators there are, but we’ll have a place to go.” Jack looked around them nervously. He wasn’t sure if what he was hearing was Delirious, The Trapper, or something else, but he didn’t like it. “I hope H2O is okay.”

 

“You and me both,” Avery agreed.

 

She recognized the area they were now in, and that was because of the bear trap that still lay open a few feet away.

 

“How do we disarm it?” Jack asked. “We’re not gonna have one of us just stick our hand in there, are we?” He eyed the open trap nervously.

 

Avery shook her head. “No, that’s too dangerous. I don’t know how it works in the actual game, but I’m not willing to take any risks,” she said.

 

Jack sighed with relief. “So, there’s gotta be something around here that we can use to stick onto the plate?” He started looking around and picked up one of the thin bars of metal.

 

“That’ll work,” Avery said.

 

Jack approached the bear trap and lowered the bar into it, pressing down on the trigger plate. The trap snapped shut loudly, making Jack jump as it nearly broke the bar.

 

“Well, I guess that’s that,” Avery said.

 

“Not quite,” Jack was now looking behind them. “We might want ta start running!”

 

Avery spun around and saw what Jack meant. The Trapper was heading towards them quickly, raising its weapon, a large spiked machete. Avery started running after Jack, who had grabbed her arm and took off. The Trapper dashed after them, and somehow got in front of them. It swung the machete between them, splitting them apart.

 

Jack curved in his path and ran back the original direction that he and Avery had come while Avery went around The Trapper and kept running, looking back at Jack and trying to follow. The Trapper followed Jack, and though she wanted to go after them, Avery thought better of it.

 

Jack ran until his side had a stitch and he was out of breath. He hadn’t lost The Trapper, but now had no idea where he was. He saw a shed nearby and ran inside, closing the door as quickly and quietly as he could behind him. Pressing himself against the wood, Jack held his breath as he heard the heavy footsteps just outside. There was an annoyed grunt, and then the footsteps grew fainter and further away until they were finally gone.

 

Jack let out all the air he’d been holding in, and slid down the door onto the floor. After a few moments, he opened his eyes again and looked around the shed. It was dark, and there weren’t any windows. The only light that filtered into the shed was coming through a large hole in the roof.

 

The moonlight was reflecting off of something pinned to the wall, and when Jack moved closer to it, he was relieved.

 

It was a note with a large number nine written on it. Already there were two tally marks. Wait? Two? Either Avery had found another generator and was able to repair it really quickly, or Delirious had been able to do something with just one arm. Either way, they were all closer to escaping.

* * *

The Trapper split them apart, and Avery wanted to go after Jack, but instead kept running straight. She hated having left Jack behind to The Trapper, but if she knew him, he would find a way to escape. Hopefully.

 

Avery stopped running and looked behind her. She had run pretty far from where she and Jack were separated, and couldn’t see any landmark that might seem at all familiar. Avery was walking forward slowly, as she didn’t want to miss anything. As she walked, a structure grew visible ahead of her, and then Avery recognized it as the Coal Tower.

 

Sometimes the basement was located inside the large tower, but when Avery entered the building, the stairs that led into the basement wasn’t where it always was. That meant it was at the Killer’s Shack, somewhere on the map, as it was the only other place that the basement could be. Avery circled the large machinery in the middle of the tower until she reached the stairs that led to the upper floor.

 

Climbing the iron staircase, Avery peeked inside each closet. She wasn’t willing to miss Delirious if he was here. It was a good thing that she looked inside each closet, because in the one next to the doorway in the small room on the top floor, there was the masked man.

 

When Avery opened the door, Delirious screamed, scaring the living daylights out of her, and she jumped back. A moment later, Delirious realized who had opened the closet.

 

“Oh, shit! I’m sorry, Avery! I thought you were. . . uh, you know,” Delirious said, a bit awkwardly.

 

Avery let out a large breath. “Yeah, I do know. But god! You scared the hell outta me right there!” she panted. “What were you doing in there anyways?” she asked after catching her breath again.

 

“I heard something downstairs and thought that it was the killer, so I hid. But now I guess that it had actually been you.” Delirious explained

 

Avery smiled in amusement.

 

Jack had found the hideout, and now all he had to do was find Avery. And Delirious. He left the small shed and started heading in the opposite direction of which he’d come. It was the same direction that Avery had run, so he thought that he might find her that way somehow.

 

Jack was heading towards a structure in the near distance, but was going slowly, almost as though he were planning to circle it first. He was almost at what he now saw was the large Coal Tower when he saw a generator.

 

Jack made for it but changed directions when he spotted a hook. Best to take it apart before getting to work on the generator. Jack wanted to be safe, and though he didn’t know how many hooks were on the entire map, this one appeared to be nearest.

 

Jack jumped up and grabbed the hook, hanging for a moment before attempting to pull himself up. When he was finally high enough to grab the metal beam the hook was attached to, Jack started pulling himself over the top of it. He gave himself a breather when he was finally balanced over the beam, and then slid forward a little and started fumbling with the silver clip.

 

It clicked when it opened, and Jack threw it onto the ground. He began undoing the binding, and nearly fell on his face when he jumped down. Jack picked up the hook and went over to the generator. He looked around before getting to work on it.

 

It took much longer than Jack would have liked, but the light came on above him at last and Jack turned away from the newly repaired machine. He was heading away from the Coal Tower suddenly, and when Jack turned towards it again, he heard something that made him freeze.

 

The area was silent, but then it came again. It sounded like someone shouting, and then Jack quickly recognized the voice as Delirious’. Jack turned on the spot, scanning the area in the direction of Delirious’ yelling.

 

“Jack!” Jack spotted Delirious, now running towards him, looking panicked.

 

Even with the mask, Jack could tell that something had freaked Delirious out.

 

“Whoa, H2O, what’s wrong?” Jack asked when Delirious had reached him.

 

It took a minute for Delirious to answer, because he was out of breath. “I. . .” he panted. “I need your help,” Delirious straightened up and looked right at Jack, his eyes wide with fright. “I think there’s something wrong with Avery!”


	3. Delirious' Dilemma

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, sorry about all of the cliffhangers. (Not really)

Delirious remembered leaving the others through the escape hatch. He didn’t know what happened afterwards, but could only assume that they all made it out. Now all he had to do was find them.

 

Delirious sat up before opening his eyes to find himself on top of a hill, and there were patches of mist on all sides. His left shoulder felt extremely stiff, and he couldn’t feel his arm. Delirious tried moving it, but nothing happened. His arm was good for nothing now, and just sat in its swing limply inside his sweater.

 

Delirious lifted his mask up and rubbed his fingers over his eyes. He rolled over onto his knees and brought his legs up underneath him. He slowly rose to his feet, though it was proving a bit difficult to remain standing. It was definitely easier than before, but was still hard. Once Delirious felt that he was stable enough to walk, he carefully made his way down the hill, using the rocks on the side for extra support.

 

When he reached the bottom, Delirious looked around. There was a light coming from something nearby, and he decided to investigate it. It turned out to be a barrel with a fire crackling at its top, and there was a hook just next to it.

 

Delirious felt his shoulder twitch slightly, sending a small jolt of pain up his neck. He could feel anger and fear mixing inside his gut, and was quick to just grab the hook with his hand. Delirious jerked on it with what strength he had, and snapped the clip in half, causing it to fall to the ground instantly. All that was left was the binding, and Delirious took that off easily. He just tore the hook away from the beam, and then went over to the wooden pillar that held the beam.

 

There was a large rock just behind the pillar, and Delirious pulled himself up onto it. He started pounding his feet against the pillar, making it creak ominously. He gave one last kick, and then the wood snapped in multiple places. The pillar groaned as it toppled over, crashing to the ground.

 

Feeling satisfied, Delirious hopped off the rock, picked up the hook from the ground, and walked away, stepping around a bear trap as he left. He wandered a small distance before he came across a generator. Looking around, Delirious bent down next to it and, placing the hook on the ground next to him, stuck his hand inside the generator to start working on it. Not surprisingly, there wasn’t much that he could do.

 

He was able to tighten some loose bolts, but when it came to the wires, he couldn’t do anything. Delirious growled in frustration when the generator sparked and jumped out of the way before it blew. The bang was deafening, but Delirious didn’t dare go too far away from the machine. He knew that the killer was alerted to his location, but there was the chance that Jack, Mark, or Avery might get here first.

 

Delirious left the generator and hid in a small patch of bushes nearby. He wasn’t giving up on this generator, and tried to remain calm when The Trapper appeared. He could feel his heart beating faster as the killer prowled around the generator, looking for him. Delirious held his breath when the red glow The Trapper was emitting flashed towards him and the killer paused.

 

Then it ran.

 

Towards him.

 

Delirious knew that he’d been spotted and stood quickly, running from the generator and heading towards a hazy structure in the distance. He was tiring quickly, since he was already weakened by his shoulder injury, and The Trapper was catching up.

 

Suddenly, Delirious’ foot was caught in something, and pain spread up his leg. Delirious looked back and saw that he’d stepped in a bear trap, and also saw that The Trapper was almost on top of him. Delirious struggled to force the trap open, but with one hand it was much harder than it was with two. He tried pulling on the metal with his hand and pushing with his free foot, and the trap budged just a tiny bit. Thankfully, the trap was broken a little, so it hadn’t pierced his leg too deep.

 

But it wasn’t enough to slip his leg out. The Trapper stopped next to him and opened the trap and went to pick him up, but Delirious wasn’t having it. He refused to be killed this way, and took the hook in hand again. He swung it at The Trapper, piercing the killer’s thigh. The Trapper growled in pain and fury, swinging its large machete at Delirious.

 

Delirious dodged the blow and bolted, going as fast as his leg would allow. He reached the large structure, which he now saw was the Coal Tower, and went inside. He circled the bronze machinery in the middle and headed up the stairs, not stopping until he reached the top floor. Delirious went over to the closet standing next to the window and threw open its doors and hid inside.

 

Delirious didn’t know how long he was waiting before he heard something downstairs. He forced his breath to fall silent as he tried to listen to the sounds outside the closet. He could hear other doors squeaking, and realized that whoever was just outside his closet, was looking inside each one.

 

Then, one of the doors on the closet he was in opened just slightly, and Delirious accidentally let out a shriek. The person who had opened the closet was startled, jumping backward violently. It took a moment for Delirious to recognize Avery.

 

“Oh, shit! I’m sorry, Avery! I thought you were. . . uh, you know,” Delirious said, a bit awkwardly.

 

Avery let out a large breath. “Yeah, I do know. But god! You scared the hell outta me right there!” she panted. “What were you doing in there anyways?” she asked after catching her breath again.

 

“I heard something downstairs and thought that it was the killer, so I hid. But now I guess that it had actually been you.” Delirious explained

 

Avery smiled in amusement. But then her expression turned serious. “What happened to you after you escaped?” she asked worriedly, noticing that Delirious’ leg was bleeding.

 

“Well, for starters, when I woke up I couldn’t feel anything in my arm. I still can’t feel anything. I think that at this point it’s just gone.” Delirious sighed, looking sorrowfully at the lump beneath his sweater that was his arm.

 

“I see you managed to take down a hook,” Avery said, nodding towards the black metal object in Delirious’ hand.

 

He looked down at it quickly. “Oh, yeah. I actually demolished it.”

 

Avery cocked her head in confusion. “What do you mean by that?” she asked curiously.

 

“I didn’t just rip this hook off the stand, but I managed to knock the pillar over,” Delirious explained.

 

Avery’s eyes widened at the thought of one those thick pillars getting knocked over. The fact alone that it was Delirious that had done it was shocking in itself. “I’m not even going to ask how you managed that,” she said after a few seconds.

 

“After that, I found a generator, but I couldn’t get it fully repaired. . .” Delirious looked at the wall quietly after his voice seemed to vanish.

 

“Well, it goes towards our escape, so in a way you were still helping,” Avery said reassuringly. “Do you remember where it is?”

 

Delirious shook his head. “I had to to run from The Trapper after that, and I was almost caught after stepping in a stupid bear trap,” Delirious huffed. “Luckily, I was able to defend myself.” he added, raising the hook in his right hand up a little.

 

A small, nervous smile formed on Avery’s face, and she let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding in. “Well, for all I know, The Trapper isn’t anywhere near here, so let’s go try to find Jack. I made a promise to him that I would get you guys out of here.”

 

Avery started heading for the stairs outside the building, and Delirious was about to follow when he suddenly wondered why Avery hadn’t mentioned Mark.

 

_ Find only Jack,  _ Delirious thought. _ What happened to Mark? _ He was about to ask Avery but realized that she was gone. He quickly went outside and saw she was already halfway down the stairs and hurried after her.

 

“Try not to go too fast for me, Avery,” Delirious said when he caught up to her.

 

Avery looked back and understood what Delirious meant when she saw him flinch with pain. Delirious had already lost quite a bit of blood from when he’d been hooked not too long ago, and now he was limping from the new injury to his leg. It didn’t seem to be bleeding anymore, which was good, but Avery could tell that it was still causing Delirious some trouble.

 

“Right,” she said, starting to walk again but at a slower pace.

 

Avery looked back every now and then, just to see how Delirious was getting along. It startled her when he suddenly lunged forward and grabbed her by the back of her shirt. Avery stared wide eyed at Delirious until he nodded at the ground in front of her.

 

“Bear trap,” he said.

 

Avery looked at the ground and saw the large metal trap. It was placed directly in front of her, and she had almost stepped in it, but luckily Delirious had been there to stop her.

 

“Thanks,” Avery gasped at the close call. She backed away from the trap and let Delirious take her place.

 

He held the hook by the round pointed end and pressed it onto the trigger plate. The trap snapped shut on the hook, and when Delirious tried to pull it out, it didn’t move.

 

“Shit,” Delirious muttered, placing his uninjured foot on the trap and trying to pull the hook out again. The metal made a scraping noise as the hook came out some, but hardly any difference was made. “Fucking damn it!” Delirious growled in frustration.

 

As Delirious struggled with getting the hook free from the trap, Avery was suddenly feeling really light headed. It hurt to breath, and for some reason, she couldn’t figure out where she was. It was weird, considering she thought she knew just a second ago.

 

Delirious finally figured out how to open the trap himself and was able to get the hook free. When the trap snapped shut again, this time triggered by a rock, Delirious heard a soft  _ thud  _ behind him. He turned and saw that Avery was lying on the ground, but it didn’t look like she got into that position on purpose.

 

“Avery?” Delirious stepped closer to Avery and got to his knees, placing the hook next to him. “Hey, Avery,” he shook her shoulder gently.

 

Avery didn’t move, and Delirious was growing worried. He put his hand over her forehead, and it didn’t feel too warm or too cold, but when he checked Avery’s pulse, he felt his own go quicker. Avery’s pulse was really faint, and it sent Delirious into a panic.

 

He stood up and looked around carefully before leaving Avery to look for help. He didn’t dare go very far, and luckily, he didn’t have to. A generator went off in the distance and Delirious immediately knew that someone had just fixed it. He started calling out for Mark or Jack, and it wasn’t long before he saw Jack.

 

“Jack!” Delirious ran towards him, ignoring the sting of pain in his leg.

 

“Whoa, H2O, what’s wrong?” Jack asked, picking up on Delirious’ panic quickly.

 

Delirious gave himself a moment to catch his breath before he finally tried speaking. “I… I need your help,” he panted. “I think there’s something wrong with Avery!”


	4. Too Far

“I think there’s something wrong with Avery!”

 

Jack’s eyes widened at Delirious’ words, but he was quick to jump out of his trance. “Where did you last see her?” he asked.

 

“Over this way!” Delirious didn’t wait for Jack to follow on his own. He grabbed him by the arm and practically dragged Jack back towards Avery.

 

When Jack saw her, he got down on his knees by her head while Delirious watched nervously.

 

“What happened?” Jack demanded, looking up at Delirious, who now had a hook in his hand.

 

“I don’t know. I was just disarming that trap,” Delirious pointed with the hook at the closed bear trap nearby. “She just suddenly collapsed behind me.”

 

Jack looked back down at Avery. She looked suddenly pale, and Jack was worried by it. Delirious was looking around them nervously. This was really one of the worst times that The Trapper could appear in front of them, and he really wanted to make sure that it didn’t happen.

 

“Avery! Hey,” Jack gasped suddenly and Delirious looked over.

 

Avery’s eyes were open again and she looked confused. “What. . . what h-happened?” she stammered.

 

“I don’t know, you tell me,” Jack said.

 

Avery blinked and sat up. She looked at Jack and then at Delirious. They both saw the realization dawn on her face as she suddenly remembered what was going on.

 

“I. . . don’t actually remember what happened,” she said.

 

Jack looked at Delirious, who had stopped looking around for the moment. He looked back at Jack with the same worried expression, and although no one could actually see it beneath his mask, Jack could only guess that it was similar to his. Jack turned back to Avery, and while he was double checking that she was okay, Delirious was getting a weird feeling.

 

He was constantly looking around them, keeping his eyes out for The Trapper, but the strange thing was, he wasn’t feeling any threat from this odd sensation. What freaked him out the most was how familiar it felt. Delirious felt a cold shiver as it coursed through his body at the thought of Mark. He didn’t know why, but Avery hadn’t mentioned him when she said to look for Jack. Either the hideout was found and Mark was waiting for them there, or he was. . .

 

Delirious quickly looked at Jack and Avery when the thought occurred to him. Were they not telling him something?

 

“Okay, well, I’m just glad tha you’re alright,” Jack said before Delirious could voice his suspicion. “Hey, I found the hideout, by the way. We should get back there before doing anything else.” Jack added more positively.

 

“Yes, thank god!” Avery exclaimed. “I need to be somewhere where it isn’t dangerous.”

 

Jack started leading Avery in the direction of the hideout, and Delirious was forced to follow by his thought of not wanting to be left alone again. As they walked, Delirious began feeling really tired. More tired than he already was, and it got to the point where he thought he would drop from exhaustion.

 

Finally, they reached the hideout, which Delirious and Avery now saw was a shed that was falling apart, but it was still the safe point. Jack closed the door behind them all and when he turned around, Delirious and Avery were already on the floor. Delirious had put himself in one of the corners, and it wasn’t long before he fell asleep.

 

Avery didn’t look too concerned, but there was still a hint of worry in her voice when she said, “He must have been exhausted, and from what he told me, Delirious did a lot of running around since coming to this map.”

 

Jack nodded in understanding. Delirious was already low on energy and strength just from his injury, and running around with a wound like that would cause anyone to drop. Then Jack saw the sadness on Avery’s face, and slid onto the floor next to her.

 

“I’m sorry that any of this has happened. . . It’s all my fault.” Avery sighed.

 

“You made a promise, though,” Jack reminded her.

 

Avery looked up directly into Jack’s blue eyes. “Yeah, but what are the chances that I’ll actually be able to fulfill it?” she demanded.

 

“H2O and I are both still alive, so that’s something that counts towards it. We’re all together right now, and as long as we keep it tha way, nothing should go too terribly wrong.” Jack explained softly.

 

Avery gave him a small, thankful smile. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” she admitted. Her expression changed to confusion suddenly and she asked, “Why do you call Delirious ‘h2o’?”

 

Jack shrugged. “Cause no one else does?”

 

Avery thought about his answer. “Seems like a good enough reason,” she said thoughtfully.

 

“What do ya mean by ‘good enough’?” Jack teased.

 

Avery rolled her eyes. “You know that I’m just saying. . .” Avery paused. “Huh, I don’t actually know what I’m saying by that.” she realized.

 

Jack huffed lightly in amusement. “Let’s get some rest.” he suggested.

 

At that moment, Avery yawned widely. “Okay, I could really use the sleep. Even though it wasn’t too long ago that we did the same thing back on Coldwind Farm.”

 

Avery made herself comfortable a little ways away from their spot next to the wall, and Jack went across the shed from her. He looked at Delirious one last time before closing his own eyes and drifting off into an uneasy sleep.


	5. Surprise Reunions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really surprised that no one seemed to see all of the clues I was giving you guys. Or if you did, you just didn't point out that you were.
> 
> But in the chapter where Jack found the hideout/safepoint, he found the generator number sheet with two tally marks. He and Avery only got one, and Delirious was unable to complete the one he found. Cartoonz also didn't know how to fix a generator yet.
> 
> So, who could have repaired the other generator?

Cartoonz groaned and let out a heavy breath. He forced his eyes open and expected to see a bright light above his head, but instead what he saw was darkness. Not total darkness, so he wasn’t blind, which was a relief. It was a clear image of what appeared to be a holed roof. Cartoonz sat up slowly and looked around. He was in some kind of cabin or whatever, with a tunnel that led underground.

 

Where the hell was he?

 

It was then that Cartoonz realized that some of his sight was obscured, and he put his hands up to his eyes to try to figure out why that was. He gasped in shock when he realized that his right eye was gone, and when he looked at his hands, he saw that they were red. Not blood red, but the shade was definitely familiar. It reminded Cartoonz of his character for YouTube, and then he realized that he  _ was _ that character.

 

Right eye missing, light red skin, gray leather jacket and white T-Shirt and jeans. What the hell was going on?! Cartoonz flew to his feet quickly and looked around wildly. In a short few seconds he realized where he was.  _ Dead By Daylight _ . He recognized the game by the mine entrance he was currently in, but he didn’t understand how he was inside a video game. Especially since the last thing he remembered was being in that car accident.

 

Oh wait, was this by any chance some kind of heaven or hell? Was he dead?

 

“Well, if that’s the case, then this is a weird way to put it,” Cartoonz said out loud to no one.

 

He went outside and looked around, seeing nothing but trees in almost every direction. He knew what he needed to do, but it was just getting started with doing that that seemed to have Cartoonz stuck. First off, he need to find a generator, and they could be anywhere. Were there other people here with him at all?

 

There were so many possibilities as to what Cartoonz was going through right now. One was he’d suffered a major concussion and was going through some kind of trauma. Another was he was now in a coma like Jonathan and was having a never ending nightmare. A final reason was that he was actually stuck inside a video game.

 

Because that was logical. . .

 

Cartoonz was still trying to figure out where to start looking for a generator or possibly other people when he heard something. It sounded like yelling, and Cartoonz recognized the voice to be human. He ran in the direction of the screaming and stopped when he saw movement.

 

He narrowed his eye to try and see them better, and then Cartoonz realized what he was seeing; it was The Trapper chasing after someone. Cartoonz couldn’t see who the person was before they disappeared again, but he wasn’t letting that killer go after them. He ran towards The Trapper and practically jumped in front of it to get its attention. When The Trapper saw him, Cartoonz ran.

 

He randomly dodged around trees and rocks, scouting around a small area until he looked back and saw that The Trapper was all confused. Once he was sure he was safe for now, Cartoonz went back to the mine entrance in hopes that he would find that other person from before there.

 

He explored the small inside before heading down the tunnel. It didn’t go in very far, but it felt like he’d been walking for a while before he ran into a blockage. Cartoonz turned around, and when he came out of the tunnel again, he found that something was different. It was no longer quiet, and to Cartoonz, it sounded like someone was repairing something. Was there a generator nearby that he hadn’t spotted?

 

Cartoonz followed the sound through the building and came outside the back. He saw a generator just feet away from him and could hear someone making repairs to it, though he couldn’t actually see them. He carefully went around the generator until he could see the other person.

 

They looked as though they had been through a lot. His clothes were torn and dirty in places, and his red dyed hair was a mess. There were bandages on his right leg that clearly needed replacing by now, and a few other cuts that were unattended to.

 

“Uh, hello?” Cartoonz said slowly.

 

The other man jumped and stopped what he was doing. He looked away from the generator and at Cartoonz, confusion spreading over his fear darkened face. Cartoonz glanced awkwardly to the side before looking back at the man.

 

“Who are you?” the man asked, his brow furrowed in confusion.

 

“Uh, I-I’m. . .” Cartoonz tried to figure out which name to use. “Cartoonz?” he said uncertainly.

 

To Cartoonz’s surprise, realization replaced the confusion on the man's face. “Oh! You’re Delirious’ friend, then.” The man stood up and approached him.

 

“You. . . you know Delirious?” Cartoonz looked the man in front of him over, and then felt something familiar about him.

 

“Yeah,” the man nodded. “Though I can’t say we met under the best of circumstances.” He held out his hand for Cartoonz to shake. “Name’s Mark.”

 

Cartoonz suddenly realized why he felt like he’d seen this guy before. “Markiplier?” he guessed, taking his hand.

 

Mark nodded.

 

Cartoonz looked around before asking, “Just what is going on here? Where are we? And why?” He looked at Mark’s face with wonder. “More like how.” he added quietly.

 

Mark shrugged. “I don’t really understand the whole thing myself, even though I know the reason.” he said. “I’m just really confused as to how it is that  _ you’re _ here.” Mark looked Cartoonz over as he had him.

 

“I’d like to know that answer, too,” Cartoonz stated. “But how is it you know Delirious?” he asked finally.

 

“I met him through this whole ordeal. Don’t know where he is right now, though.” Mark explained.

 

Cartoonz’s eyes widened. “Wait, he’s  _ here _ ?!” he gasped. “When did you last see him?!” he demanded, stepping closer to Mark.

 

“Uh, last I saw him was when he and Avery escaped Coldwind Farm!” Mark said quickly, not sure if Cartoonz was willing to threaten him or anything.

 

“Coldwind Farm. . .” Cartoonz repeated. “So this _is_ _Dead By Daylight_ after all.”

 

“Unfortunately,” Mark put in.

 

“So, I’m assuming we have to beat the game to get out of it or something like that? Or is this eternal?” Cartoonz asked, gesturing towards the generator.

 

“Yeah, pretty much,” Mark answered. “Although I don’t think that we’re all stuck in some kind of eternal cycle or anything, so you don’t have to worry about that.” he added.

 

Cartoonz approached the generator. “How do we fix this, exactly?” he asked.

 

“Oh,” Mark went back to the generator and showed Cartoonz how to repair it.

 

When he finally got the hang of it, they got the machine fixed a little faster. Once the light came on above them, Mark and Cartoonz ran inside the mine entrance and stayed low for a few minutes. They finally decided that it was safe to leave and went out the other side of the cabin.

 

It was just trees stretching in every direction, and Cartoonz didn’t know where they were supposed to start looking.

 

“Just how big is the map?” he asked, gazing out at the misty forest around him.

 

“Don’t know,” Mark said, unhelpfully. “It varies, I guess. Depends on how many different areas were combined.”

 

“Meaning?” Cartoonz pressed.

 

“It could be really large,” Mark explained.

 

“So where do we start and what are we supposed to begin with?” Cartoonz asked.

 

“We start anywhere, and I guess we begin with looking for another generator,” Mark started walking off towards a small, distant light. “”It’s better than wandering around aimlessly looking for the others.” he explained.

 

“Hmm,” Cartoonz nodded, following after Mark quietly.

 

He didn’t like the idea of Delirious being exposed to something like this, even though he’d played the game  _ Dead By Daylight  _ a ton of times before. But maybe it would explain what was going on with him back home. His coma, his shoulder. . .

 

Even though Cartoonz didn’t stop walking, he felt shock stop his breath. He blinked and shook his head, snapping himself out of his sudden trance and looked quickly at Mark. He jogged forward until he was walking next to him.

 

“Did something. . . happen to Delirious. . . by any chance?” he asked fearfully.

 

Mark’s speed slowed for a moment as he looked at Cartoonz, but then he resumed his regular pace. “Yeah,” he said. “Do you mean something specific?”

 

Cartoonz sighed. “Well, back home, in the real world, he’s in a coma and I can now only guess that this is the reason why,” he said. Mark remained silent, so he continued. “It was on day two that Delirious. . . that Jonathan was in the hospital when he was suddenly taken into an emergency surgery for something that happened to his shoulder.” Cartoonz looked at Mark again.

 

Mark still didn’t say anything, though.

 

“What I’m basically asking is. . . was he thrown on a hook at all?” Cartoonz felt a shiver travel through his body at the thought.

 

Mark sighed heavily and looked forward. “Yeah, he was,” he answered finally.

 

Cartoonz felt his chest hurt at the thought of how much pain that Delirious must have gone through. He wanted nothing more than to find him, now. Even if he was okay now, he was still horribly injured, and Cartoonz just wanted to be sure that his best friend was managing himself well.

 

“At least he’d survived getting hooked?” Cartoonz said hopefully.

 

“Barely,” Mark said. “But yeah, he’s alive as far as I know.”

 

Cartoonz froze suddenly and had his eye peeled for any sign of movement. Mark looked back and saw that he’d stopped, so he paused to wait. A sound reached Cartoonz, and he recognized it as The Trapper laying down a trap somewhere.

 

“He’s near us,” he whispered harshly towards Mark, who looked around in confusion.

 

“Who is?” Mark asked, puzzled.

 

“The killer,” Cartoonz explained.

 

Mark gulped and looked at the surrounding area. Then Cartoonz spotted The Trapper and saw that it was moving towards them. Rather slowly in fact, and it puzzled him for a moment.

 

“Let’s not stand around, please,” Mark pleaded.

 

Cartoonz nodded quickly and the two of them took off running. They lost The Trapper easily, and when they came to a stop, Mark and Cartoonz were slightly confused.

 

“Is it just me, or did the killer seem. . . slow?” Mark voiced his wonder.

 

“Yeah,” Cartoonz agreed. “But it almost looked as though he was actually limping,” he looked at Mark, who had confusion written all over his face, but his eyes showed fear.

 

“So, you’re saying that it was hurt?” Mark checked. Cartoonz nodded, looking back in the direction of The Trapper. “I wonder who did that?” Mark said.

 

Cartoonz was scanning the area, and he caught a flicker of light. It was the same light that they had been heading towards in the first place, and he pointed it out to Mark. It was definitely closer, and when Cartoonz and Mark reached it, they found that it was one of the firelit barrels.

 

“Well, at least we found one thing,” Mark pointed out, looking up at the hook a few feet away.

 

“We don’t have a toolbox, though, so how are we supposed to take it down?” Cartoonz asked.

 

“We don’t need a toolbox,” Mark said. Cartoonz blinked. “Not this time, at least. We can just take them down by removing the bindings holding it into the stand.” Mark explained as he climbed onto a rock just behind the hook.

 

Cartoonz watched in slight astonishment as Mark hoisted himself up onto the beam and slid across the top of it towards the hook. He started fumbling with something that appeared to be some kind of clip, and Cartoonz picked it up when Mark threw it to the ground.

 

“What on earth. . . ?” He mumbled, turning the clip over in his hands.

 

He looked back up at Mark and saw that he was undoing a wrapping. Cartoonz was totally bewildered at this point. Sure, he was trapped inside a videogame that he’d played many times before, but it wasn’t even played the same way? What the hell was going on?!

 

Cartoonz let the clip in his hands fall back to the ground again and started looking around. Since he and Mark were obviously not the only ones here, he wanted to try catching at least a glimpse of someone else. What Cartoonz saw, though, was something he didn’t remember ever seeing on any of the maps for the MacMillian Estate.

 

It looked like a shed, and though it was clearly falling apart, Cartoonz could tell that there was something different about it. He heard the thud of Mark jumping off the hook’s stand, and looked back at him.

 

“Hey, uh, Mark?” Cartoonz waited for Mark to stand next to him. “Is that something that should be here?” he asked worriedly. He wasn’t sure why he felt so afraid at the moment.

 

Mark followed Cartoonz’s gaze and when he spotted the shed, he looked just as confused. “No, I don’t thinks so,” he said. “But then that means it might be the safe point!”

 

Cartoonz was startled by the sudden look of excitement on Mark’s face.

 

“Safe point?” he repeated in bewilderment. There were no safe points in  _ Dead By Daylight _ . The more Cartoonz was here, the more confused he seemed to be getting. “What do you mean by ‘safe point’?!” he demanded in a harsh whisper.

 

“It could be something else, though,” Mark pointed out. “But we’ll never know unless we check it out.”

 

Cartoonz gulped as Mark started slowly approaching the shed and gradually followed after him.

 

While Mark and Cartoonz were moving towards the shed, Delirious was just waking up inside of it. His face felt all hot and sweaty from having worn his mask the entire time he was asleep, and his left arm felt really heavy. Delirious slipped his mask off and wiped his sleeve over his face and the inside of his mask before he put it back on again. He stood up slowly, using the wall for support, and then headed towards the closed door.

 

Jack and Avery were still asleep, and he still had no idea what had happened with or to Mark, so Delirious was on his own for the time being. At least until one of the other two woke up.

 

“Quick!” Mark gasped suddenly, grabbing Cartoonz and pulling him behind a toppled tree.

 

“What?” Cartoonz glared at him, wondering what he was suddenly freaked out about.

 

Cartoonz looked towards the shed and saw that a door on the smaller side had opened. He froze. His eye widened at the sight of a blue hoodie, and he felt tears welling up inside it when he saw the mask that was ever so familiar. Mark was beginning to relax, now that he knew it was just Delirious and was relieved that the shed was the hideout after all.

 

He was startled when Cartoonz suddenly leaped over the thick log and shouted “JONATHAN!!” as he ran towards Delirious.

 

Mark suddenly realized that Jonathan was his real name. That should have been obvious when Cartoonz had said it the first time.

 

Delirious nearly jumped at the sound of his real name, and he was shocked when he saw who had yelled it. Before he could react, though, Cartoonz had already pulled him into a tight hug.

 

“Ouch,” Delirious choked.

 

Cartoonz put him down quickly. “Sorry, man. I just. . . I’m just glad to see you awake!” he cried.

 

Delirious was puzzled. “Awake? What are you-” he suddenly remembered what had been in the Journal. “Oh. . . yeah.” he looked gloomily at the ground, and then shook his head and looked back at Cartoonz. “How the fuck are you here?!”

 

“I don’t know, but I do want to know what happened to you!” Cartoonz was practically speaking between breaths he was crying so much.

 

Mark had watched from behind the log up until now, and was just approaching Cartoonz and Delirious.

 

“Mark!” Delirious gasped excitedly at the sight of his missing friend. “Where were you?!”

 

“I’ll explain everything, but are Jack and Avery inside?” Mark asked.

 

“Oh, yeah!” Delirious felt the joy coursing through him. It had almost seemed like Jack and Avery knew something about Mark that he didn’t, so they would likely be really surprised to see him.

 

Delirious was about to head inside again when Cartoonz stopped him. He looked back and finally saw the sadness in his eyes. . . er. . . eye.

 

“Luke?” Delirious was suddenly worried.

 

“I was so scared for you, Del,” Cartoonz said, almost breathlessly. “Just. . . what happened after that call ended?” he asked, pulling Delirious closer to him.

 

“I. . .” Delirious looked at Mark, who was just watching with wonder. “I don’t know,” Delirious said finally. “I fell asleep shortly after, and then woke up inside this game.”

 

Cartoonz moved his gaze from Delirious’ mask to his empty sleeve. Another tear fell from his eye.

 

Delirious quickly realized what he was looking at. “Oh, I’m fine, Luke. Honestly,” he said.

 

Cartoonz looked back into his best friend’s eyes. He suddenly pulled him into another hug, though he was careful to be gentle around his obviously injured shoulder. “I’m just glad that you’re alive.” He let a shaky breath escape him.

 

Delirious suddenly felt like crying himself. This was Luke crying on his shoulder right now. Even though it was technically a different body, it was still the same guy he’d known for seventeen years. His best friend. Delirious let his head rest on Cartoonz’s shoulder, nearly forgetting about Mark, who was now just standing awkwardly off to the side.

 

“Uh, should I go somewhere?” Mark asked suddenly, feeling really awkward as he watched the scene play out in front of him.

 

“Oh, right, sorry,” Delirious stepped back from Cartoonz, who willingly let him go. “Come on. I’m sure that Avery and Jack will be thrilled to see you.”

 

_ I’m sure they will be, _ Mark thought as Delirious led them inside the shed.

 

Jack opened his eyes when he felt someone prodding him in the back. He rolled over to see Delirious looking down at him.

 

“Wah?” Jack mumbled sleepily.

 

“Hey, Jack. You won’t believe who showed up just now!” Delirious said excitedly and went over to wake Avery.

 

Jack sat up and rubbed his eyes. It took a moment for them focus and when they did, they widened. Immediately Jack was on his feet and had his arms wrapped tightly around Mark, tears streaming rapidly from his eyes.

 

“Yer okay!” Jack choked.

 

“Yeah, I am,” Mark whispered softly, wrapping his own arms around Jack.

 

Jack stepped away. “But. . . how?!” he couldn’t believe that Mark was alive at all, and especially after what happened.

 

Avery was now awake, and she gasped at the sight of Mark. “Mark! You’re alive!” she cried joyfully.

 

Delirious suddenly understood. Jack and Avery weren’t saying anything about Mark because they had thought that he was  _ dead _ . Why hadn’t they bothered to tell  _ him _ that, though? Delirious went to stand next to Cartoonz, who had been watching from the corner.

 

“I’m confused,” Cartoonz said.

 

“We all are,” Delirious put in.

 

Avery finally took notice of the two of them and her happy expression turned into shock. “What are you doing here?” she asked blankly.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry. Should I be somewhere else?” Cartoonz said.

 

“No, no, I didn’t mean it that way!” Avery explained quickly. “I mean, how are you here?”

 

Cartoonz shrugged. “It would seem that no one has the answer to that question.” He said. “Although I’m hoping that someone can explain to me what the fuck is going on?”

 

“Well, what do you understand so far?” Avery asked.

 

“So far? That we’re all trapped inside this game and that we have to beat it to get out, since that would only be logical,” Cartoonz huffed.

 

“Okay, well, there isn’t much else to say, except that we have to fix a total of nine generators for this map, and it looks like we’ve already gotten three of them repaired,” Avery said.

 

“Wait, nine?” Cartoonz’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Isn’t it only four or five, though?”

 

“It’s been different from the start,” Delirious explained. “On Autohaven Wrecker’s it was ten, Coldwind Farm was eight, and now it’s nine. We don’t actually know why the number changes each time, but we know that we aren’t playing by the proper rules of the game.”

 

“They’ve been changed just for us,” Jack said. “Or at least that’s what we’re going with.” he added quietly.

 

Cartoonz thought about all of the information he’d just received. “So, basically, the number of generators is different each time, and we have to repair them all in order to escape, and then the hooks can just be torn down without a toolbox or whatever, and you guys have already faced the other two maps?” he looked between Mark, Jack, Delirious, and Avery.

 

“That about sums it up,” Mark confirmed.

 

“Shit,” Cartoonz muttered, scratching his head and pacing a few steps. “What about in the real world? Can someone explain that?” he looked back at the other four.

 

“I’m. . . sure you already know,” Delirious said gloomily.

 

“So, what? I’m in a coma now?” Cartoonz was starting to feel less confused, but more angry at his situation.

 

“We all are,” Avery explained.

 

Cartoonz sighed heavily. “Okay, I think I’ve got the gist of what’s going on and what we have to do, but what were you guys saying about Mark over here being dead?” he asked, pointing at Mark.

 

Jack, Avery, and Delirious all looked at Mark as well.

 

“How did you escape, anyway, Mark?” Jack asked.

 

Mark sat himself on the floor and Jack was quick to sit a few feet in front of him with Avery. Delirious stayed in the corner by Cartoonz. He didn’t know what it was, but he just didn’t want to leave his side. It would seem that Cartoonz didn’t want Delirious to move away from him either, though. They moved a little closer so that they could hear Mark’s tale.

 

_ ~ Flashback (Mark’s POV)~ _

 

_ Jack and I ran for the barrier that would separate us from Coldwind Farm and send us both onward to the next map, and I really thought that we were finally free from The Hillbilly. If only I could have been right. I felt it grab me by the back of my shirt and pull me backward. _

 

_ Jack tried to leap forward and save me, but The Hillbilly shoved him hard backwards and past the barrier. I watched as Jack dissolved and then I was thrown over the monster’s shoulder. Jack was safe, yes, but I wasn’t. He’d been my only hope of escape after being grabbed, but now I was alone. _

 

_ And having The Hillbilly as my only companion wasn’t a thrilling thought. _

 

_ I struggled against the killer’s hold on me as it carried me further and further away from the open gate, towards the Silo. The outside disappeared around me and was replaced with creaking, wood paneled walls and stairs. It grew instantly hotter, and I could feel sweat beading up on my forehead. _

 

_ I tried once more to escape The Hillbilly’s grip, and just as it was about to hoist me onto the hook, I slipped out of its gross hands and bolted. I ran straight up the stairs and out of the Silo, but when I tried to find the gate again, I couldn’t locate it once more. _

 

_ The chainsaw whirred behind me and I started running again without a second thought. I had to get back to the others. I had to get back to Jack. To tell him how I felt and for how long. _

 

_ I wanted to get the chance to tell Jack that I loved him. _

 

_ As I ran, I passed the shed ruins where Delirious had been hooked, and then I came upon the cornfield. I knew that the hatch was around here somewhere, but The Hillbilly was far too close for me to use it as my escape route. So I just kept running. _

 

_ Through the Rotten Fields, away from the Slaughterhouse, and I eventually found myself at The Thompson House. I remembered Avery saying something about a basement being here, but how was that possible if it was at the Silo? I looked around, freezing in place to listen. The only sound I heard was of the soft wind blowing through the tall grasses that grew around me. _

 

_ Cautiously, I headed inside The Thompson House and found the stairs to the basement. I actually thought of going down there to investigate the weird mystery, but the thought of Jack and the others pushed me away from The Thompson House and in search of the second gate. _

 

_ A huge sigh of relief left me when I found it and I was quickly holding the lever down to open the doors. They opened with a loud scraping noise that I was sure would bring The Hillbilly running, so I dashed right through them and beyond the barrier. _

 

_ When I opened my eyes again, I was in a dark forest. It was cold, and there was fog everywhere, and I knew that the killer this time was The Trapper. It was obvious because there was a bear trap near me. It wasn’t open, but it was still a bear trap. Standing up and looking around, I spotted some sort of building in the distance, and I wasn’t sure, but it looked like there was someone by it. _

 

_ I was about to head towards them when The Trapper appeared out of nowhere, scaring the absolute shit out of me. It shoved me to the ground and a scream tore through my throat. At least that person by that distant building would have heard me, right? Hopefully that had been someone. _

 

_ God, I hated all this spoopy stuff! _

 

_ The Trapper picked me up and started carrying me towards the building I’d seen, and if it wasn’t for the trap that had been lying on the ground open, I probably would have been killed this time. _

 

_ The moment The Trapper dropped me to set itself free from its own trap, I flew to my feet and ran as fast as my legs could carry me. I ran inside the building, which appeared to be some kind of mine entrance, and I hid inside a corner right next to a window, for in case I needed to escape. _

 

_ I wasn’t feeling like taking the risk of hiding inside the closet just a few feet away. Especially since I knew that was how Delirious had ended up. . . No, I can’t let myself think about that now. Not when there was a chance it could happen to me next. _

 

_ Time passed slowly, and once I felt sure that The Trapper was gone, I left my hiding spot and went through the window. I honestly couldn’t believe my luck at having found a generator, but I started to repair it as soon as I was near enough. _

 

_ It wasn’t long before I heard someone coming, but I thought nothing of it. Mostly because their footsteps were light, much lighter than The Trapper’s hard, thudding stomps. _

 

_ “Uh, hello?” a voice I didn’t recognize spoke. _

 

_ I jumped and looked over the generator and saw someone that I had never seen before. He was wearing a light brownish-gray leather jacket over a white T-Shirt, and a pair of faded blue jeans. Strangely, his skin was a light red color, and he was missing his right eye, except it was replaced with “X” shaped scar. _

 

_ “Who are you?” I asked, feeling greatly confused at this new man’s appearance. _

 

_ “Uh, I-I’m. . .” he seemed unsure of how to introduce himself. “Cartoonz?” _

 

_ I suddenly remembered Delirious mentioning that name while Jack and I were staying with him in the hideout on Coldwind Farm. “Oh! You’re Delirious’ friend, then.” _

 

_ “You. . . you know Delirious?” I couldn’t help but hear a hint of wonder in Cartoonz’s voice when he spoke. _

 

_ “Yeah,” I nodded. “Though I can’t say we met under the best of circumstances,” I held my hand out for a handshake. “Name’s Mark,” I said. _

 

_ The sudden look of recognition that spread over Cartoonz’s face was obvious. “Markiplier?” he asked, taking my hand and shaking it quickly. _

 

_ I nodded. _

 

_ ~Flashback End (Normal POV)~ _

 

“After that, Cartoonz and I finished the generator and had another run in with The Trapper before I took down a hook and we came here.” Mark finished his story and looked nervously at Jack and Avery.

 

“Well, I’m just glad that you escaped, Mark,” Jack said.

 

Mark hadn’t said anything about his feelings towards the Irishman, so Jack still didn’t know. Now it was just figuring out how to get him to that was suddenly Mark’s real problem.

 

“Now, is there any way we can figure out how the heck it is that Cartoonz is here?” Avery looked towards the man still hiding in the corner with Delirious.

 

“I’ve got nothing,” Mark said.

 

Avery was thinking hard while Delirious said the same. It actually wasn’t true, though. He wasn’t sure if it was what happened, but he had an idea of how Cartoonz had ended up here with them. Back on Coldwind Farm, he’d wished that he was there with him. It must have been Cartoonz wanting him to wake up in the real world or something that was combined or whatever and caused him to come into the game.

 

Wait, there was a missing piece there.

 

“Uh, L-” Delirious stopped himself for a moment. “Cartoonz, what happened before you woke up here?” he asked, looking worriedly at his best friend.

 

“What do you mean?” Cartoonz asked.

 

“While, from what I know, none of us were awake in the real world when we were brought here,” Delirious explained.

 

Cartoonz looked at Mark, Jack, and Avery, who all nodded. Then he looked nervously back at Delirious.

 

“Uh,” Cartoonz put his hand on the back of neck. How was he supposed to explain to Delirious that he’d nearly died? And that he could quite possibly do so? “Well, I. . . was in an accident,” he said finally.

 

“Accident?” Delirious’ voice had a sudden hint of worry.

 

“Yeah,” Cartoonz sighed, knowing that he couldn’t hide it now. “It was a car accident.” He closed his eye for a moment before opening it again to see that Delirious’ eyes had a look of horror.

 

“What?!” Delirious exclaimed, almost throwing Cartoonz against the wall when he grabbed his shoulder. “Holy shit! What happened?!” he demanded fearfully.

 

“It. . . I was just heading home from the hospital after seeing you,” Cartoonz explained. “Or more like found out about your shoulder injury.” he corrected.

 

Delirious’ gaze betrayed him and he was looking at the floor. His arm fell away from Cartoonz’s shoulder and he slid down the wall. He took his mask off, which startled Cartoonz just a bit, and pressed his hand against his forehead.

 

Across the room, Jack had stepped next to Mark and was quietly talking with him while Avery watched Delirious and Cartoonz.

 

Cartoonz was on the floor next to Delirious and had placed a comforting arm on his good shoulder. “Hey, I’m fine, okay?” he tried.

 

“No. No you’re not,” Delirious was trying to keep his voice calm. “What if you never get out of this?” he looked at Cartoonz with wet eyes.

 

Cartoonz blinked. “What? No, I’m not gonna die, Del. I’ll make sure that you won’t either, okay?” he picked up Delirious’ mask.

 

Delirious wiped his sleeve over his eyes. “But-”

 

“No!” Cartoonz interrupted Delirious before he could really start saying anything else. “It’s going to be okay, Del. We’ll get out of this mess and everything will be fine, understand?” he undid the strap of the mask.

 

Delirious stared at him momentarily, before finally nodding.

 

“Hey, Avery,” Avery turned to face Jack. He nodded towards Cartoonz and Delirious. “With H2O injured, having Cartoonz to help us out can’t hurt.” He said.

  
“No, it can’t,” Avery agreed. “The more, the merrier.”


	6. Deliriously Damaged

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the romance begins.

Cartoonz pulled Delirious to his feet after having put his mask back on and they went outside the hideout after Mark, Jack, and Avery. The five of them were now leaving to look for some more generators and hooks, and hopefully some supplies as well. Cartoonz had already been worried by Delirious’ shoulder injury, but when he noticed that he was limping slightly, his worry only increased.

 

“Hey, Del,” Cartoonz put his hand on Delirious’ shoulder to slow him down a little. “Why are you limping? Were you caught in a trap at some point?” he asked.

 

Delirious sighed. “Yeah, but I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt anymore. Though it still stings a little sometimes.” he said.

 

“Do you know how bad it is?” Cartoonz asked.

 

Delirious huffed in slight annoyance. “No, I never looked. Why are so concerned for me all of a sudden?” his words came out harsher than he’d meant, and he immediately bit his tongue at Cartoonz’s light flinch.

 

Cartoonz looked away from Delirious for a moment, and when he looked back at him, he was staring at the ground as they walked. Neither of them said anything else after that, mainly because Cartoonz was called up front by Avery, who needed to ask him something. With Cartoonz up front with Avery, and Mark and Jack just behind them, Delirious was left behind in the back of the line.

 

And Delirious took full advantage of it.

 

He stopped and waited for the others to pull ahead of him quite a ways before taking off in another direction. He knew that Cartoonz was just worried about him, but it was getting on his nerves for some reason. Delirious wasn’t even sure why he came with them on this expedition, since he wouldn’t actually be able to do anything.

 

With his shoulder torn apart on the inside and his arm completely limp and useless, Delirious was nothing but a drag-around at this point. A waste of space. He couldn’t even fix that first generator he’d found in the beginning, and with Cartoonz here now, that made four others. There were only four sides to a generator, so he would be left out anyways.

 

In truth, Delirious wanted to prove to  _ himself _ that he could still do something useful, otherwise it would seem pointless to save him. He tightened his grip on the hook in his hand and felt determination spread throughout his mind and body. Although it was a bit scary being on his own, now, Delirious wasn’t going to let anything stand in his way.

 

He was able to disarm a few bear traps on his private travel by using the hook. Unlike with the first trap, Delirious used the curved end to press the trigger plate. That way, he could pull it out from the bottom of the trap and keep going. At some point, Delirious was actually starting to regret having wandered away from the others, but then he found a generator that was still untouched, and his regretful thoughts vanished.

* * *

When Avery called Cartoonz up, he ran straight ahead to catch up to her, leaving Delirious at the back.

 

“How are you handling everything so far?” Avery asked.

 

Cartoonz thought for a moment, then shrugged. “I don’t know. Okay, I guess,” he said.

 

Avery nodded. “I just wanted to be sure, because, well. . . because all of this doesn’t make any sense,” she said.

 

“No kidding,” Cartoonz muttered.

 

“I-” Avery began, but was interrupted by a sudden shout.

 

It came from Jack. “Hey, there’s a hook over there!” he cried, pointing.

 

Avery and Cartoonz looked, and they too saw the menacing object.

 

Avery looked at Cartoonz and sighed. “Well, I guess we should go dismantle it.”

 

She and Cartoonz quickly caught up with Mark and Jack, who had run ahead. Jack and Avery were the ones who got to work with taking it down, while Mark stood beneath the beam to catch the hook when it fell.

 

Cartoonz watched for a minute. “At least whatever is putting us through this decided to make things easy on us, huh, Del?” he said.

 

Silence.

 

Cartoonz looked around. “Del?” he continued looking around in confusion. “Delirious!?” he shouted, spinning in a circle now.

 

Mark and Jack looked over at him, and Avery paused in her task to do the same.

 

“Where the hell did he go?” Cartoonz looked at the others, who were just as puzzled. Then Cartoonz suddenly realized what must have happened. “Oh shit!” He started scanning the dark forest desperately.

 

Avery finished taking down the hook before she, Mark, and Jack came over to Cartoonz. “What’s happened now?” she asked.

 

“Shit,” Cartoonz growled. “I shouldn’t have taken my eyes off of him!” he exclaimed. “Now Delirious has just up and disappeared!” he put his hands up to his forehead in panic and practically fell into a sitting position.

 

“Hey, hey! We’ll find him!” Avery said quickly, placing her hand on Cartoonz’s shoulder.

 

“But how soon?” Cartoonz looked up at her with extreme worry in his eye.

 

“The sooner we start lookin’, the quicker we’re likely ta find him,” Jack pointed out.

 

“Yes,” Avery pointed at him in agreement. “So let’s start looking right now.”

 

Cartoonz took a deep breath and stood up again. He followed Mark, Jack, and Avery as they searched through the trees. He was the one to keep his eye peeled the most, knowing that he would know Delirious when he saw him. They looked around for a while, before any hope of finding him began dwindling.

 

“We might have to split up,” Avery said nervously. She didn’t like the idea of separating, but then again, no one did. Not here at least. “We should find Delirious faster that way.”

 

And so, Mark, Jack, Avery, and Cartoonz split up. While the others went in mostly opposite directions, Cartoonz started heading towards a bright light in the distance. It was much closer than he’d thought, and when he finally reached it, he discovered that it was a fully repaired generator.

 

Cartoonz kept going, heading straight ahead. He could see something far off, and began to recognize it as the mine entrance as he got closer. Deciding to search in there first, Cartoonz veered off his current path towards the mine, trying to ignore the eerie noises and feel of the forest around him.

 

When Cartoonz finally reached the mine entrance, he got the weirdest feeling ever; that he shouldn’t go in. There was a chance that Delirious was inside, though, so why he felt like going inside just wasn’t the thing to do, Cartoonz didn’t know. His head was telling him to go in, but his gut was saying something different.

 

Despite himself, Cartoonz listened to his gut and turned away from the mine entrance and headed in the opposite direction. He suddenly recognized the area as where he’d gotten The Trapper all confused and turned around before. Now that he wasn’t running for his life at the moment, though, Cartoonz was actually able to take a proper look around.

 

The trees parted around him, forming a small clearing, and other than the mine entrance, there was nothing else. Wait, there  _ was _ something else. Upon closer inspection, Cartoonz realized that it was a generator. He wanted to repair it, but Delirious was most important right now. Even so, Cartoonz found himself slowly moving towards the machine. There was nothing around it, and he was about to turn around to keep looking for Delirious when he noticed something.

 

It was a flicker of movement, and Cartoonz stopped. He looked towards the generator harder, and then realized that what he was seeing was a leg. Getting excited, Cartoonz got closer and paused just beside the generator.

 

Delirious was sitting against the generator with his legs brought up to his chest. His forehead was resting on his knees, and his right arm was over the back of his head. Cartoonz heard a sniffle and felt his heart breaking.

 

“Del?” Cartoonz whispered softly.

 

Delirious’ head shot upwards and for a moment, he looked terrified. But then he calmed down again when he saw who it was. “Oh. . . Cartoonz,” he sighed. “What do you want?” Delirious adjusted his position so that his legs were out a little, and lay his arm in his lap.

 

“I was looking for you,” Cartoonz explained. “We all are. Do you have any idea how worried you’ve got us all?” he demanded.

 

Delirious sniffed, but he didn’t answer. After a moment, he looked up at Cartoonz again. “What are you still doing here?” he asked, the question startling Cartoonz. “Shouldn’t you go look for the others?”

 

“Yeah, I should,” Cartoonz sat on the ground next to Delirious. “But I’m not going to go anywhere unless you’re with me.”

 

Delirious groaned.

 

“Del,” Cartoonz started, and Delirious looked at him. “Why did you wander off in the first place?” he asked.

 

Delirious stared at him for a couple of seconds. “I don’t know. . .” he said finally.

 

“I get the feeling that you do know,” Cartoonz pressed.

 

“Why is this so important to you?!” Delirious demanded.

 

Cartoonz didn’t flinch by his sudden outburst, though. “Because  _ you’re _ important to me,” he said.

 

Delirious went quiet, then he said, “I. . .” he tried to think of the words. “Ever since I got hurt, I haven’t been able to do anything useful, and I really think that I’m just slowing everything and everyone down.”

 

Cartoonz blinked, but he let Delirious continue. “It’s just that. . . when I woke up here on MacMillian Estate, I found a generator and wasn’t able to repair it because I’ve only got one arm.” Delirious coughed lightly before adding, “An arm that I’ll never use again. . .”

 

“Hey, that’s not true,” Cartoonz assured.

 

Delirious basically turned on him. “What do you mean it’s not true?! I can’t even feel anything from my shoulder down!” he exclaimed.

 

“Well, when I was told about what happened to your shoulder at the hospital, they said that you’ll be able to use your arm again, just not fully without a lot of fucking therapy sessions.” Cartoonz explained.

 

Delirious stared at him in slight shock. “Wait, you’re serious?” he asked, feeling hopeful. Cartoonz nodded, and Delirious sighed with relief. “Of course, that all really depends on if I’ll even get out of this alive.” he pointed out gloomily.

 

“Well, for now you’ll just have to do what you can-” Cartoonz began.

 

“Which is nothing,” Delirious interrupted. “I can’t use my arm, so I’m totally useless!” he choked. “It’s like I’m not even worth saving at this point. . .” Delirious started sobbing behind his mask.

 

Cartoonz leaned closer to Delirious and lifted his mask up, revealing Jonathan’s face beneath. He let the mask rest on the top of Delirious’ head while he took his hand and brushed his fingers gently over Delirious’ face, wiping away the tears. He hated seeing him like this, but he managed to remain calm and not break dramatically over the huge amount of sadness in Delirious’ eyes.

 

“Don’t ever say you’re not worth saving, Del,” Cartoonz said, putting his hands lightly on Delirious’ shoulders.

 

Delirious looked at the ground. “But. . . what the hell am I supposed to do now, huh? I’m useless, Cartoonz.” Delirious sobbed again.

 

“There are still plenty of other things you can help with, Delirious,” Cartoonz said softly, wiping away some more of Delirious’ tears. “You just have to figure them out, is all.”

 

“Who am I kidding?” Delirious said suddenly. “I can’t even fix a single stupid generator!” he pounded his fist on the machine behind him angrily.

 

“All you need is a little help, Del. Not everything is always possible alone, y’know.” Cartoonz took Delirious’ mask and used his jacket to dry the moist inside. “Tell me, what you have done with just the one arm?”

 

Delirious sniffed before saying, “That first generator I came across, I did what repairs I could,” he turned his head to look at Luke.

 

“There you go, now you’re thinking positive!” Luke said happily.

 

“Measly repairs,” Delirious grumbled.

 

Cartoonz took advantage of the extra comment, though, by saying. “Well, those measly repairs have us all one step closer to escaping.”

 

Delirious was quiet for a moment, and then to Cartoonz’s surprise, he laughed. “You’re just not going to give up are you?” he chuckled.

 

Cartoonz glanced to the side and then back at Delirious. “Give up on what?” he asked.

 

“On cheering me up,” Delirious huffed. “You’re just going to take everything I say and turn it into something positive until I fucking feel better about myself, aren’t you?”

 

“Pretty much, yeah,” Cartoonz said.

 

Now Delirious was really laughing, and Cartoonz couldn’t help but smile. “That’s just typical of you, Luke!” Delirious giggled.

 

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Cartoonz rolled his eye. “Will you help me with this, Del?” he asked Delirious suddenly, gesturing at the generator behind them.

 

Delirious looked at the broken machine and then at Cartoonz. “Why should I?” he asked.

 

“I can’t do it on my own, that’s why,” Cartoonz teased.

 

“You can’t or you won’t?” Delirious questioned.

 

“Both,” Cartoonz stated.

 

Delirious chuckled again, but before he could get to his feet, Cartoonz had suddenly grabbed his face in his hands. He held him there for a moment or two, looking into his eyes.

 

“C-Cartoonz?” Delirious stammered, confused.

 

“Do you know how much you mean to me, Del?” Cartoonz asked.

 

“Uh,” Delirious thought for a second. “A lot?” he guessed stupidly.

 

Then, Delirious’ eyes widened with shock and his body stiffened when Cartoonz leaned forward a little more and their lips touched. Eventually, his eyes rolled upwards, his lids closing and his body relaxing as he fell into the kiss. Cartoonz was ever so gentle with him, and Delirious actually felt a little disappointed when they parted at last.

 

“You mean that much to me, Del,” Cartoonz said. “I love you, and nothing will change that.”

 

Delirious gazed at Cartoonz’s face, feeling a new wave of emotion washing over him. He’d never felt it in this way before, but he knew that it was love. He’d always loved Luke, but never in this way. But now that seems to have changed.

 

“Why didn’t I ever see it before?” Delirious mumbled.

 

“Huh?” Cartoonz was puzzled.

 

“I really can’t believe that I never saw it in you before now,” Delirious said.

 

“What are you talking about, Del?” Cartoonz asked, getting only more confused.

 

“I really wish that I had seen that what I needed was you, man,” Delirious stated.

 

Now Cartoonz understood what Delirious was saying. This time it was Delirious who kissed him, and Cartoonz practically had to pull them apart just to breathe.

 

“We should really fix the generator,” he said.

 

He laughed when Delirious’ face turned bright red, which only made it go redder.

 

Delirious stood and moved to one of the generator’s sides while Cartoonz took the other. In truth, he knew that Cartoonz would cheer him up. He always found a way to do so, no matter what was going on or what the case was.

 

It was one of the qualities that Luke had that Jonathan liked. He knew that he could always count on him when things went wrong. He could count on Cartoonz to help him through hard situations, and to comfort him when something had him greatly upset, like he just had. And now it would seem that he was even more important to him than ever before.

 

Hopefully Cartoonz would stay alive so that he could stay by his side, and Delirious never let a single thought of him getting killed enter his mind as they ran from the newly repaired generator.

 

Through his sister he had met Cartoonz, and after that they became friends. And then it turned into best friends, and then somehow Cartoonz ended up like a brother to Delirious. It seemed a little strange if you thought about it that way, but now Cartoonz was more than that. He was everything that Delirious had been looking for.

 

To think that what he needed in life had always been there.


	7. Not Always What You Say

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry that this chapter is a day late. I never got onto a computer yesterday so I wasn't able to post. I also didn't actually have school yesterday and I kind of forgot that it was Monday. But hey! Here's the chapter now!

Delirious and Cartoonz allowed themselves a break and chance to catch their breath. They hadn’t stopped running ever since finishing that other generator, and were now quite a distance away from it. Cartoonz could see the same firelight by the hook nearest to the hideout, and he had the feeling he knew where to go from there.

 

Only, when he was about to head towards the shed, Delirious stopped him.

 

“They’re over there,” he said, pointing.

 

Cartoonz followed his gaze and saw Mark and Jack talking to each other just beneath one of the trees. He and Delirious ran over to them.

 

“Oh, ya found him!” Jack exclaimed, relieved.

 

“Yeah, I apologize for having took off in the first place, guys,” Delirious said, lowering his head a little.

 

“Well, it was really a good thing he did,” Cartoonz said. Mark and Jack stared at him in confusion. “I found him by a generator, and the two of us got it repaired.” Cartoonz explained.

 

Cartoonz glanced over at Delirious, who he was sure had a slightly embarrassed expression written over his face hidden beneath the mask.

 

“Hey, you guys!” Mark, Jack, Delirious, and Cartoonz turned to see Avery running up to them.

 

“Hey, Avery,” Cartoonz greeted.

 

“Great, we’ve all been reunited,” Avery panted. “Can we not split up again, please?”

 

“Sorry about that,” Delirious said.

 

“Oh, no. I’m not blaming you, Delirious,” Avery explained quickly.

 

“Uh, you know it was your idea to split up in the first place, right Avery?” Mark pointed out.

 

Avery paused and thought for a moment. “Right. . .” she said slowly, stretching out the word.

 

“On the bright side, though,” Mark said, getting Avery’s attention again. “Delirious and Cartoonz got another generator.”

 

Avery’s face brightened. “Great! Let’s see if we can get more.”

 

Delirious laughed lightly. “Yeah, the sooner we’re out of here, the better,” he looked at Cartoonz slyly.

 

Cartoonz caught his gaze and knew that he was secretly referring to his pep talk back at the generator, and he gave Delirious a smug look. While Mark and Avery started heading off for the generator search, Jack was looking suspiciously at Delirious and Cartoonz. There was a weird air between them, and he couldn’t help but get this feeling that there was something going on. Maybe it had always been like that, though? He wasn’t sure how long they’d know each other, so the feeling was uncertain.

 

Shaking his head, Jack headed after Mark and Avery, with Delirious and Cartoonz close behind him. They caught up with Mark and Avery quickly, and it wasn’t long before they came across one of the other repaired generators. It was the same one that Cartoonz had passed while he was looking for Delirious, and that Jack and Avery had fixed not long after meeting.

 

They walked past the generator and towards unexplored forest, Jack never taking his eyes off the back of Mark’s head. He didn’t want to lose sight of him again.

 

Ever.

 

“Jack, hold up,” Cartoonz stopped Jack by placing a hand on his shoulder.

 

“What?” Jack looked quickly behind him.

 

“You might want to step around that,” Cartoonz said, nodding towards the ground.

 

Jack looked down and saw a bear trap. Wide open and dangerously menacing.

 

“Holy. . . !” Jack gasped, realizing how close he’d been to stepping into it.

 

Mark and Avery had looked back and saw that there was a hold up, and were now coming back.

 

“What’s going on back here?” Avery asked. “Oh,” she said when she saw the bear trap.

 

“I’ve got this,” Delirious said, stepping forward.

 

He took the hook by the straight end and pressed the curved edge on the trigger plate. The trap snapped shut around the metal rod, but Delirious was able to tip the trap over and pull out the hook through the bottom. When he was done, he saw that Mark, Jack, and Avery were all staring at him in silent astonishment. Cartoonz, however, looked pleased. Of course he did.

 

“What?” Delirious said, looking between the other four.

 

“How long have ya been able ta do that?” Jack asked, blinking.

 

“Not long. That’s only the second trap I used it on,” Delirious explained.

 

Cartoonz’s eye narrowed.

 

“Well, it’s a very good thing, to be honest. With Delirious able to disarm the traps by using the hook, we can be sure that none of us will end up stepping in one,” Avery said.

 

“As long as we see it before that happens,” Mark put in.

 

Cartoonz leaned over and whispered in Delirious’ ear, “There’s one thing that you can help with.”

 

Delirious took a step away and glared at him accusingly. “What are you talking about?” he joked.

 

Cartoonz gave him a light shove. Again, Jack was getting a weird feeling about the two of them. He hadn’t seen the two of them together for very long, since Cartoonz had basically only just joined them, but it was almost as though they were acting. . . friendlier than before towards each other.

 

Mark and Avery didn’t seem to notice, though. If they had, then they just didn’t really seem to care at the moment. Avery started leading them again, and Jack was suddenly doubting she was going at random, because it seemed more like she was following a specific path.

 

“Uh, Avery?” Jack sped up until he was walking beside her and Mark. “Where are we going?” he asked.

 

“What do you mean ‘where are are we going’? We’re looking for another generator,” Avery said.

 

“I know that, but it just seems like we’re going somewhere specific ta me,” Jack stated.

 

Avery was quiet for a moment, and then she looked at Mark, who was looking at her curiously. Avery glanced back at Delirious and Cartoonz. Her expression turned to an extremely confused one, and then she looked forward once more with her eyebrows raised.

 

“Okay, I’m not going to question what it is those two are doing,” she said.

 

Jack, now curious, glanced over his shoulder. Cartoonz had one of his arms around Delirious, and they were conversing about something that he couldn’t hear. The weird feeling only got worse from there.

 

“Okay, anyways,” Avery pulled something out of her pants pocket. It was a map. “I’ve been using this.” she unfolded it.

 

It was small, but there were marks for the location of each generator. The Coal Tower and mine entrance were also drawn onto the old paper.

 

“How long have you had this?” Mark asked.

 

Avery shrugged. “It was on the wall behind the note telling us how many generators there are this time, so I figured that I would bring it along,” she explained.

 

“Wait, which generators do we have repaired right now?” Jack asked, stopping.

 

Mark and Avery stopped, too.

 

“Well, I know that this one is done, because Jack and I got that one,” Avery pointed to the one that they had passed not too long ago.

 

“Cartoonz and I got the one by the mine entrance,” Mark pointed out.

 

“And I got this one over here,” Jack said.

 

“Which one did they get?” Avery looked behind them at Cartoonz and Delirious, who were no longer walking after the three of them, but were now fighting over something (playfully).

 

“What the fook are you two idiots doing?!” Jack yelled at them.

 

Cartoonz and Delirious stopped suddenly and looked towards them. They must have just realized how much distance that Mark, Jack, and Avery had pulled ahead, because they quickly ran to catch up.

 

“What were you two fighting about?” Mark asked curiously.

 

“Fighting? We weren’t fighting,” Delirious said.

 

Jack raised an eyebrow, but he didn’t ask anything about their strange behavior. Instead he asked, “Which generator did you two get?”

 

Cartoonz and Delirious walked around them to view the map themselves. Cartoonz looked closely at the x’s.

 

“This one,” he pointed at the second one nearest the mine entrance.

 

“Okay, and we’re heading towards this one right now, and it’s just ahead,” Avery started walking again.

 

They reached the generator in no less than a minute, but that was due to Delirious being the first to spot it. Avery, even though she had the map, was unable to locate it even when it was practically in front of her face.

 

The generator was against a tree, so only three of the four sides were accessible, and Mark, Jack, and Cartoonz took care of repairing it. While they were doing that, Avery was talking quietly with Delirious.

 

“How is your shoulder feeling?” she asked.

 

“Numb,” Delirious answered.

 

“What. . . what happened after you left us?” she asked.

 

“I was just looking for a generator that I could repair by myself, since I wasn’t able to do that with the first one I found,” Delirious explained. “To be honest, if Cartoonz hadn’t shown up when he did, The Trapper probably would have found me first and I would likely be dead by now.”

 

Avery looked at Delirious solemnly. “I know that you two are really close,” she said.

 

“Yeah,” Delirious nodded. “But. . . I guess I just didn’t realize how close.”

 

Avery huffed with light laughter. “I think I know what you mean,” she said. Delirious looked at her, confusion in his eyes. Luckily, she had seen it, so she explained. “I saw you two getting all close back there. With him putting his arm around you?”

 

Delirious fell silent, and Avery had the feeling that he was blushing slightly beneath his mask. “Oh. . . right,” he looked awkwardly away from Avery and at the others.

 

The light came on, so Avery and Delirious ran after Mark, Jack, and Cartoonz before The Trapper had the chance to see them. They stopped to rest at a hook, and shortly afterwards, Mark and Jack assisted Avery in dismantling it.

 

“Hey, Cartoonz, I’m gonna go look around for a box and some supplies,” Delirious said.

 

Cartoonz hesitated with his answer. “Okay, but be careful,” he said at last.

 

Delirious chuckled. “You know I will,” he put his hand on Cartoonz’s chest before turning to leave.

 

Cartoonz grabbed hold of his arm before he could take his hand off, though. “I mean it, Del,” he said.

 

Delirious rolled his eyes at him. “Seriously, Cartoonz, I won’t go too far. I’ll even stay in your range of sight if that makes you happy.” he grumbled.

 

Cartoonz let him go and Delirious wandered off into the nearby trees. He searched around for a bit, getting confused as to why no one was calling him back. Surely it didn’t take that long to dismantle a single hook? Even when he’d done it back on the Autohaven Wrecker’s map it hadn’t taken more than a minute or two.

 

Delirious sighed and threw his head back, walking forward slowly. He brought it down again when he bumped into something. It was just what he’d been looking for; a box. How convenient was that? Opening the lid, Delirious started digging around in the discarded items, looking for whatever would prove useful.

 

What he found was the most usable item that the game could give; a first-aid kit. Delirious grabbed the small handle and stood to head back towards the others. Only, when he turned around, he had no idea where they were.

 

“Fucking hell,” Delirious muttered.

 

Somehow he’d managed to lose sight of them. Or he’d gone too far. Or, for a much better case, he just couldn’t see them from the angle he was standing at. He walked slowly back the way he came, scanning the surrounding area carefully.

 

“Delirious!” the familiar voice of Cartoonz called.

 

Immediately, Delirious turned towards it and ran in that direction.

 

“Where the hell did you go?” Cartoonz asked when he saw him.

 

“I don’t know. One moment I knew that you guys were just a few yards behind me, and then suddenly I had no idea where any of you were,” Delirious said.

 

“I could still see you, even from that distance,” Cartoonz said. “I only called you back here because I could tell that you were confused.”

 

Delirious rolled his eyes. “If you could still see me, then I would have spotted you myself, but whatever.”

 

“I see you found some stuff,” Avery came up to the two them with the hook in her hand.

 

It was then that Cartoonz actually took notice of the small red case in Delirious’ hand. It was a good find, and would definitely come in handy. If he recalled correctly, Delirious still hadn’t taken a look at that leg injury he’d gotten from a bear trap earlier. It could be vulnerable to infection by now, and just the thought of that got Cartoonz worried. He was about to say something about it, but didn’t just from the quick look that Delirious gave him. Clearly he didn’t want to hear it. Maybe not yet at least.

 

The group left the hook’s stand behind them and followed Avery through the trees. Mark was the one watching Jack now, and he was constantly getting the the urge to just tell him already, but he forced his words back for the time being. It was still a bit too soon, and with Avery, Delirious, and Cartoonz around, it would be a little awkward.

 

As they walked, Mark caught sight of a small building not too far away, and to him, and it looked like the Killer’s Shack.

 

“Hey, Mark, you okay?” Jack asked, making Mark jump a little. “Oh, sorry. Didn’t realize that you were deep in thought or something like that.” Jack teased.

 

“No, I wasn’t,” Mark said. “I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

 

Jack shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe because you seem a bit out of it lately?” he pointed out.

 

Mark sighed. “I don’t know what it is. . . I guess just getting taken by The Hillbilly on Coldwind Farm just as we were escaping took it out of me a little, so I’m a little freaked out by things.” he said.

 

Jack blinked at him. “Wow, I didn’t expect ya ta go so deep into that,” he said.

 

“I’m not lying,” Mark huffed.

 

Jack raised his hands defensively. “I didn’t say you were.”

 

Mark was quiet for a while, and Jack only glanced at him every now and then worriedly. Eventually, the Coal Tower came into a clear view and for a moment, Jack didn’t know what they were supposed to do there.

 

“I hate this place,” Delirious muttered behind them.

 

“The whole place or just the tower?” Jack asked him.

 

“This whole game,” Delirious said.

 

“Don’t we all?” Mark grumbled. He’d stopped watching where he was going and ran into Avery. “Why’d you stop suddenly?” he asked.

 

Avery was staring at the small, crinkled map in her hands. “There should be a generator here,” she said, rolling the map up, flattening it, and then folding it up and slipping it into her pocket again.

 

“There usually is one inside the tower,” Cartoonz agreed.

 

The group entered the tower and started looking around. It was as Delirious remembered from his panicked escape earlier, and why would it change suddenly? Mark was examining the strange, large, copper machine in the middle of the building, while Avery, Jack, and Delirious were exploring the tower, looking for the generator in question.

 

Cartoonz was keeping a lookout around the outside of the tower, taking a look inside every now and then.

 

“Hey, it’s up here!” Jack called down.

 

Avery and Delirious joined him quickly, and Mark stopped trying to pull on a jammed lever. He ran up the stairs and joined the others in the small room with the generator. Avery and Jack were already working on it, but Delirious was hesitating. He finally decided to give it a try and kneeled over, sticking his hand into the mess of machinery.

 

Mark took his place on the last side and started working with the loose wires. They worked for some time, and then Delirious stepped away from the generator, having done what repairs he could manage and Avery finished them off.

 

“You’ve gotta be shitting with me,” Jack muttered suddenly.

 

The sound of something fizzing reached Mark’s, Avery’s, and Delirious’ ears and they took a step further away from the generator just before it blew.

 

“Ouch!” Jack exclaimed, grabbing his hand and sliding over the floor away from the generator.

 

“Jack!?” Mark was immediately at Jack’s side. “What happened?” he asked worriedly.

 

“I think. . . I think it burned me,” Jack answered, revealing his injured hand.

 

It was turned a red kind of color, and some of the skin was split so it was even bleeding. Delirious brought over the first-aid kit, which Avery was quick to grab and she started taking some things out. There was a window nearby, and Delirious climbed through it onto the balcony just outside. He looked around at the ground below.

 

Jack flinched when Avery started gently spreading a solution over his hand that would help with the burns, but was glad when the pain began to ease off.

 

“Why didn’t you jump away when it started sparking?” Mark asked.

 

“I couldn’t, my hand was stuck,” Jack explained as Avery began wrapping some bandages over his hand. “It somehow got tangled into some wires and I couldn’t get it out in time.”

 

“Oh,” Mark said.

 

“Hey, Cartoonz!” they heard Delirious shout from outside.

 

There was some yelling that sounded like mumbling to them, but Delirious’ voice was quieter than it should have been from that floor, so that meant that he’d gone down a little.

 

“Yeah, we’re fine! Just a generator mishap,” Delirious called down to Cartoonz, who obviously must have heard the explosion and was wondering what had happened.

 

“There,” Avery said, closing up the medkit. “That should do it for now.”

 

Just then, Delirious came back in through the window. “Hey, Cartoonz just told me that he’s seeing the killer around, and that we should hurry,” he said.

 

“Right,” Avery nodded.

 

They finished the generator before leaving to head back to the hideout, making sure that Cartoonz found them before taking off. Leaving him behind while he was scouting the building’s outside wasn’t something that was about to happen here.

 

“Hey, Del,” Cartoonz  looked at Delirious once the Coal Tower was out of sight.

 

“What?” Delirious glanced quickly at Cartoonz before looking ahead again.

 

“Think you’re useless now?” Cartoonz asked, tease in his voice. “I mean, you’ve been a lot of help lately, y’know.”

 

Delirious turned his head slowly to glare at Cartoonz. Mark and Jack looked back at them suspiciously. Just hearing Cartoonz say that Delirious had thought he was useless was concerning.

 

“No, I guess I don’t,” Delirious said.

 

Cartoonz put an arm over Delirious’ shoulders, making sure to be gentle on his left one. “Okay, good. Because I don’t ever want to hear you say that about yourself again,” he said.

 

Delirious rolled his eyes. “Of course you don’t, Cartoonz. What the hell else am I supposed to expect out of you?” he teased.

 

“I’m going to head inside. If you guys want to stay out here, that’s fine,” Avery said before she went inside the shed.

 

Mark, Jack, Delirious, and Cartoonz decided to stay outdoors and took a spot against the shed’s wall. They sat there for a while, just listening to the soft breeze that blew around them.

 

“This is all crazy,” Cartoonz said suddenly.

 

“Everything’s crazy with you, Cartoonz,” Delirious teased Cartoonz by waving his hand in his face.

 

“Shut up, man,” Cartoonz swatted his hand away. “Anyways, it’s you that takes all the crazy. Why else would you be called delirious?”

 

Jack watched them for a moment, then he turned to Mark. “Are you getting the feeling that there’s something going on between the two of `em?” he asked, whispering so that only Mark could hear him.

 

Mark shrugged. “Depends on what you mean,” he said.

 

Jack rolled his eyes. “I mean like. . . romance? I don’t know how to explain it, I’m just getting that weird feeling.”

 

“You mean ‘bromance’?” Mark corrected.

 

“Ha ha, hilarious, Mark,” Jack said sarcastically.

 

“Hey, what do you guys think Avery’s doing?” Cartoonz asked after a moment.

 

“Who knows? Only she does,” Jack said.

 

“Probably coming up with a game plan or something like that. So we can get out of here faster,” Mark suggested.

 

“I like that idea,” Delirious put in. “It’ll be a great relief to finally get the hell out of here.” He added.

 

“Can’t argue there,” Jack agreed.

 

Mark was staring off distantly, and at first, Jack thought that he was just thinking about something back home. But then he looked nervously at him for a second before turning back to the forest.

 

“What?” Jack asked worriedly, glancing between Mark and the forest as well.

 

“Do you guys hear that?” Mark whispered.

 

Jack, Delirious, and Cartoonz fell silent and listened. What they heard was the light wind, and something else. Something else that sounded a lot like traps being laid out. The Trapper was nearby, and the smart thing to do would be to go inside the shed, but none of the four did that. Instead, they each stood up slowly, not taking their gazes off where the sound was coming from.

 

Sure, hearing The Trapper laying out a trap was normal, but was it normal if the sound of the metal traps being opened was constantly echoing through the trees?

 

“He must be up to something,” Cartoonz guessed.

 

“Should we investigate?” Jack asked.

 

“If you want too,” Mark said.

 

“Why would we need to check out what it is The Trapper is doing?” Delirious pointed out.

  
“So we know what ta watch out for,” Jack explained.


	8. A Run-In With The Unpleasant

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the romance continues.

Mark, Jack, Delirious, and Cartoonz sneaked through the trees cautiously, keeping as quiet as possible so that they didn’t alert The Trapper that they were nearby. They followed the constant sound of bear traps being opened, and it wasn’t long before they located the killer. They crouched in the tall grass to watch it.

 

“Uh, guys,” Mark said slowly, nervously pointing towards what looked to be a shining trail of metal.

 

“That bastard’s setting up a whole bunch of em!” Jack exclaimed in a whisper.

 

“Looks like he’s plotting or something,” Cartoonz suggested.

 

“Must be ‘or something’, because the killers aren’t actually people here,” Delirious said.

 

Cartoonz looked at him. “Seriously?” he sounded exasperated.

 

Delirious breathed into his mask to show frustration. He didn’t like the way that whatever had put them there was playing along. Cartoonz turned his attention back to The Trapper as it was now finishing up with another trap.

 

“Where is he getting them all from?” he wondered. “Surely they can’t all just be lying around? He must have carried them over here or something.”

 

“Who knows, but I think we should follow it,” Mark said suddenly.

 

Cartoonz, Jack, and Delirious all looked at him like he was crazy. Mark glanced at them for a moment, back at the killer, and then back to them.

 

“What?” he asked, confused by their expressions.

 

“What kind of idea is that, Mark? Are ye crazy?!” Jack demanded.

 

“Follow the killer? Really?” Cartoonz couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “The only reason I would follow any killer for is if they had someone over their shoulder.”

 

“I still think we should follow it,” Mark said again.

 

Delirious remained silent. He wasn’t really sure what to say about the idea of following the very thing trying to end them. Now it would seem that Mark didn’t really care what the others thought, because he stood up and started going after The Trapper, which was now leaving its line of bear traps behind and heading off to another part of the map.

 

“Mark! Get back over here!” Jack called after him in a harsh whisper.

 

Mark didn’t listen, or he didn’t hear him, because he jogged out of sight, and with no other choice but to follow at this point, Jack, Delirious, and Cartoonz went after him. They caught up with Mark and, though reluctantly, Jack didn’t stop him. He figured that there was no changing his mind at this point.

 

Although all the maps were creepy, and this one was especially scary. It felt as though the trees were closing in on the group, like they were trying to consume them as they followed The Trapper through the forest. Jack wasn’t letting down the bad feeling he was getting from this whole plan, and if he voiced it, Cartoonz would quickly agree. Mark was at the front, pushing forward determinedly and looking back every now and then to make sure no one was getting left behind.

 

Finally, Mark stopped walking and the group of four hid behind a few trees to watch what the killer was doing. They were now by the mine entrance, where Cartoonz had started his whole experience inside the game, and it looked like he was growing nervous just from being around it.

 

The Trapper had disappeared inside the mine, and Mark wanted to head inside, but even he knew how dumb that was.

 

“Oh crap,” Delirious said suddenly. Everyone looked towards him. “I just realized that Avery doesn’t know about the traps yet!” he pointed out fearfully.

 

Mark and Jack looked at each other.

 

“We’ll go back and tell her about them,” Jack said, glad to take any chance he could to get out of this whole “follow the murderer” mission.

 

“All right, well, then I guess that Del and I will keep an eye on the killer. Whatever he’s up to,” Cartoonz said as Delirious carefully moved closer to him so they were hiding behind the same tree.

 

Mark didn’t really complain about Jack basically having volunteered him to go back to the hideout when he was the whole reason they weren’t at it in the first place, but that was mainly because it would mean that they would have a moment alone. This could be his chance to tell Jack, and then maybe. . .

 

Mark shook his head, putting aside those thoughts of what might happen after a confession. What mattered right now was Avery, who still didn’t know about the bear traps. She probably didn’t even know that they had left. Mark suddenly realized how stupid this plan was, since they’d left Avery alone back at the hideout. That had been extremely careless. For if she found them gone, she wouldn’t know what happened to them all!

 

Jack started leaving and Mark followed after him. He looked back once more at Delirious and Cartoonz, noticing that were using some sort of tactic to spy on the killer. When Mark turned around to keep going after Jack, he didn’t notice the quick movement several yards away, and the faint red glow of its presence.

 

The Trapper had in fact gone through the mines to another entrance nearby only it could get through, and circled around. It had been lying out all those traps in hope that one of the survivors would come and investigate. Then it led them back here, isolating them from that safe house that it didn’t understand.

 

This was its way of playing the game.

 

“Mark! Jack! It was a trick!” Delirious shouted suddenly, startling the two.

 

Then Jack and Mark and saw The Trapper and jumped back as it swung its machete at them. Thankfully, it missed, and they ran further out of range. The Trapper charged after them, quickly closing the distance between it and its targets.

 

“How do we lose it?!” Jack panted.

 

“Dodge and weave!” Delirious called after them. “Dodge and weave!”

 

Jack got the idea that Delirious was just trying to help, but it wouldn’t help him, because The Trapper suddenly had him by the arm.

 

“Shit! Mark!” Jack cried.

 

Mark stopped and spun around, being quick to start running to Jack as The Trapper began dragging him away. He caught up, but The Trapper stopped and attacked him. Mark was stunned by a hard blow to the head with the closed fist of The Trapper’s hand and he was knocked over to the ground.

 

Seeing the immediate problem, Delirious knew that he should do something. Even though Cartoonz had been helping him out with it, Delirious still felt that he wasn’t doing enough to prove useful to the group. It took a second for Cartoonz to realize what was happening, but when he lunged at Delirious to grab him, he was already out of reach.

 

Delirious charged towards The Trapper, running at a surprising speed with his injuries. He circled around and jumped in front of the killer, grabbing its arm as he nearly fell over from the sudden stop. The Trapper, confused, let go of Jack and took a step backward.

 

Jack bolted, stopping beside Mark, who was just regaining his bearings.

 

“Jack. . . ? What happened?” Mark asked drearily.

 

“You were almost knocked out,” Jack explained.

 

Mark suddenly remembered what had happened, and he shot straight up, almost slamming his face into Jack’s head. “Wait. . . !” he looked back to where The Trapper was swinging angrily at Delirious, who was trying to get away himself now that Jack was safe and no longer in the killer’s hold.

 

Jack stepped back as Mark stood up. Cartoonz was running towards Delirious, who was now having problems. The Trapper doubled back on its footing suddenly, catching Delirious by surprise. In that moment, he froze, and The Trapper backhanded him and Delirious fell over.

 

“Delirious!” Cartoonz cried as The Trapper bent over and picked up Delirious, throwing him over his shoulder

 

For a few seconds, Delirious hung there limply, and then he realized what had happened. Cartoonz was just behind The Trapper, he tried to grab Delirious, who had reached out with his arm, but the killer had figured as much and spun suddenly, swinging its machete at Cartoonz. It left a small scratch across his face, but he was otherwise unharmed.

 

The Trapper then turned around and continued heading for the Killer’s Shack, taking a struggling Delirious with it. Cartoonz ran after them, knowing that letting Delirious go wasn’t an option.

 

Jack started to follow, but Mark stopped him by grabbing his arm quickly.

 

“Mark, what are you doing?! We have ta help them!” Jack tried to shake Mark off.

 

“I’ll go help Cartoonz and Delirious, you go back to the shed with Avery,” Mark said, quite calmly.

 

“What?! No!” Jack exclaimed. “I’m not letting you go alone! Even with Cartoonz there!”

 

“I’m not doing this only because I want you to be safe, I’m doing it because Delirious saved your life! Don’t let that go to waste,” Mark explained, letting go of Jack’s arm.

 

“Well, I can’t just leave him! He’s my friend-” Jack started.

 

“Delirious is my friend, too, Jack!” Mark pointed out. “But if you get killed or hurt while saving him now, then what was the point of getting you away from the killer? He did it so that you wouldn’t be hurt or worse!” he explained frantically.

 

“I want to help, though!” Jack protested.

 

“I know you do, Jack,” Mark said softly. “But I’m being serious right now. Avery most likely doesn’t even know that we’re gone. You have to go back to the hideout and tell her what’s going on,” he explained.

 

Jack sighed, unable to argue against that point. Mark looked into his eyes for several moments, patiently waiting for a response.

 

“I don’t want to do it just for Delirious,” Jack said after a second or two. “I want to make sure that you’ll be okay, too.”

 

Mark blinked.

 

“Mark. . . I lost ya once, and I can’t lose you again. I thought that I would never see ya again after The Hillbilly got a hold of ya back on Coldwind Farm. I actually thought of letting The Trapper get me at one point so that I wouldn’t have to live without you there,” Jack said, giving up on hiding his feelings or waiting to say them out loud to Mark at last.

 

This was the moment. This was the time he was going to finally tell him the way he felt.

 

“Jack. . . ?” Mark could feel his heart beginning to race. What was Jack telling him?

 

“Mark, I’ve been wanting to tell ya for a while now, and I don’t actually know what you’ll say about it, but at this point I don’t really care, as long as I tell you,” Jack said. “I love you, Mark. Like, really  _ love  _ you, and I have for several months now. I just never knew when to tell you or how. . .” Jack put a hand behind his head nervously.

 

Mark was silent with shock. He didn’t know what to say to this at all. Jack had loved him for a while now, and he’d only felt the same way for a couple of hours, almost a day or so.

 

“Jack. . .” Mark began slowly.

 

“I know, it’s stupid, I’m stupid, and this is really all for not,” Jack growled at himself.

 

“Jack,” Mark said again.

 

“You can hate me if want, now-” Jack was starting to feel a bit of regret for having confessed the way he felt.

 

“Jack!” Mark cut him off. Jack paused, looking at Mark nervously. “Will you shut up for a minute so I can kiss you?” Mark said.

 

Shock was written over Jack’s face. “Wait. . . what?” he was extremely confused.

 

But that confusion left him when Mark pulled him closer and they had their first ever kiss together. Jack’s heart exploded with emotion and he thought that nothing else could go wrong. But when he and Mark finally parted, he remembered where they were and that Delirious and Cartoonz were in trouble.

 

“It’s really just another reason to protect you, Jack. I want to keep you safe for that reason, so please. . . go back,” Mark said before leaving Jack standing in the middle of the forest, watching him run off.

  
“But. . .” Jack said quietly, knowing that Mark wouldn’t hear his next words. “I know you’ll protect me, so I feel safer around you, Mark.”


	9. Rescue Gone Wrong

Mark ran through the trees, breathing hard as he struggled to catch up with Cartoonz and The Trapper. He knew that Jack hadn’t wanted to be left behind, but Mark couldn’t let him come along to help rescue Delirious because then there was a chance that his life being saved would go to waste. It was also because he loved him, and Jack apparently felt the same way, too.

 

Knowing that Jack had feelings for him made Mark only want to keep him safe much more, and he wasn’t risking a fight with the very thing trying to kill them. Mark passed one of the working generators and the Killer’s Shack came into view. He sped up and leaped right through a window like it was a hurdle on a track and didn’t stop at the stairs. He skipped over a few at a time, leaping onto the small landing between the steps, and saw what was going on.

 

Thankfully, Delirious hadn’t been thrown onto a hook again, and he was backed up into a corner. Cartoonz was in front of him, fending off The Trapper with a bent pipe he’d found outside the shack. The Trapper’s machete and the pipe were clanging against each other, and Mark saw The Trapper try to push against Cartoonz to get at Delirious at one point.

 

Shaking his head regain his senses, Mark charged blindly forward with a yell and he attacked The Trapper. The killer spun around, swinging its machete at him, but Mark was quick to jump backward and dodged the deadly blow. He glanced quickly at Cartoonz as a signal for him to start getting Delirious out of the Killer’s Shack, and Cartoonz understood it clearly.

 

He nodded to Delirious, who started sliding slowly over the wall while Cartoonz stayed in front of him, holding up the pipe for defense. Mark was working to keep The Trapper distracted so that Cartoonz and Delirious would have the chance to escape, but the killer wasn’t letting anyone go.

 

It grabbed Mark and attempted to toss him onto a hook, but all that did was give Mark something to hold onto. He gripped the hook tightly in his hands and kicked upward with his legs, slamming his feet into The Trapper’s masked face. The Trapper let a roar of fury rip from its throat as Mark jumped back to the floor. He spotted Cartoonz and Delirious across the room, very near the stairs, and knew that he just needed to keep The Trapper occupied for a bit longer.

 

The Trapper recovered and saw that two of its victims were escaping, and then made the charge. But Mark wasn’t having it. He lunged forward and leaped up onto The Trapper’s shoulders, confusing it. The Trapper spun around in circles, clawing at Mark’s arms with its gloved hands until Mark jumped off at last. He’d seen Cartoonz and Delirious retreat from the basement, and was about to run out himself when The Trapper turned and grabbed him again.

 

At least Cartoonz had thought he might need to help Mark, because he came back into the basement with the pipe in his hands. He flung it at The Trapper’s head, causing the killer to let go of Mark and stand still for a moment. Mark scrambled to his feet again and tried to go around the monster towards Cartoonz, but he was too slow.

 

The Trapper recovered again and reached for Mark just as Cartoonz retrieved his weapon. Quickly, he realized the danger that the both of them were in, and raised his pipe again to fight against The Trapper. With Delirious out of the Killer’s Shack and on his way back to the safety of the hideout, Cartoonz didn’t need to worry about protecting him.

 

But he did need to help Mark. The Trapper had thrown him into the corner that was farthest from the exit, and Cartoonz was practically all the way across the basement. But he was a fast runner, and was soon right behind the killer, slamming the pipe down on its back with all his might.

 

To his total bewilderment, the pipe broke in half, but at least it had grabbed The Trapper’s attention. The killer turned slowly around to face Cartoonz, and he looked up at the ugly mask that covered its face. He gulped.

 

The Trapper grabbed Cartoonz by the collar of his leather jacket with one hand, and the other half of the pipe with its other hand. It tossed the broken pipe aside, and took a step forward, forgetting about Mark. Mark started scratching at The Trapper’s machete arm, stopping it from reaching the pillar in the center of the basement with its four hooks, dangling menacingly from the beams.

 

The Trapper suddenly remembered that there were two survivors in the basement with it, and it spun around, throwing Cartoonz directly into Mark. The two men hit the wall with such a force that the air was knocked of them. Once recovered, they scrambled to get off each other to stand again, but before they could get up, The Trapper was standing just above them, with its machete poised to strike.

 

Cartoonz and Mark saw it was about to bring the spiked machete down on them, and they only braced themselves for a possibly fatal blow, but nothing came. Opening one eye, Mark widened them both at the sight of blood. It wasn’t his or Cartoonz’s blood, but The Trapper’s.

 

A hook had been stabbed into The Trapper’s side, and it was quickly removed. The Trapper spun around with a roar of anger and slashed its machete through the air. Cartoonz had opened his own eye now and he and Mark finally managed to get to their feet.

 

“Jack?!” Mark gasped once he caught sight of the green hair.

 

Jack had run into the basement after finding a hook near where Mark had left him standing. He’d taking it into his own responsibility to protect Mark, even though Mark was the one who had been trying to protect him.

 

“GO! Get out of here! I’ll hold em off!” Jack shouted, waving his hand at Mark and Cartoonz.

 

Mark couldn’t seem to grasp what was happening, and he was unable to move like he was trying to. Cartoonz had to grab him by the arm and half drag him up the stairs. It wasn’t until Jack appeared at the top that Mark was able to control his body again. He got to his feet and dashed after Cartoonz with Jack just behind him. One glance over his shoulder said The Trapper was chasing after them.

 

They were running quite fast, and closing the distance between them and the hideout, but in the moment of panic, Mark forgot about the traps that had been set up around the shed.

 

“Mark, watch out!” Jack cried behind him.

 

Mark only had a moment to realize what happened next. Jack pushed ahead of him, shoving Mark aside. There was a loud snap of metal closing and Jack let out an earsplitting shriek of pain. Mark had rolled over the ground several yards, and was scrambling over the ground to get back to Jack. Cartoonz had stopped and was running towards Jack as well, but the worst part seemed to be that The Trapper was quickly catching up.

 

“Jack!” Mark gasped when he stopped beside his best friend.

 

The bear trap had closed hard around Jack’s right leg, and there was a lot of blood already staining the ground. The trap was knocked over, and a horrible looking wound had marked Jack’s leg. It was broken, and badly at that. Jack was moaning with pain as he tried not to scream again. The bear trap had not only snapped his leg on the inside, but now the bone was slightly visible. Even if Jack got out of this situation he wouldn’t be able to walk at all afterwards. His leg was nearly severed, with the sharp teeth of the bear trap puncturing his skin nearly halfway through his entire leg.

 

Mark struggled with the clasps on the bear trap, desperately trying to pry the bloody metal open. Cartoonz had now reached them, but so had The Trapper. Jack was just barely able to move in time to push Mark out of the way as The Trapper brought its machete down on them.

 

“JACK!” Mark cried when Jack screamed again.

 

Blood was splattered over the grass and dirt when The Trapper’s machete cut a deep wound into Jack’s side. Cartoonz jumped at The Trapper, distracting it and giving Mark the time to try getting the bear trap open again. Mark was quickly at Jack’s side once more, and he could feel his heart pounding with fear at Jack’s heavily labored breath. It was also the sight of so much blood that was making Mark a little dizzy.

 

“YOU LEAVE THEM ALONE!” a voice shouted, making Mark jump.

 

Delirious leaped suddenly into view and jumped on top of The Trapper, tightly gripping the open handle of its machete. He let himself fall onto the ground, taking the machete out of The Trapper’s hand with him. Startled, The Trapper tried to figure out who to attack barehanded; Delirious or Cartoonz?

 

The Trapper wasn’t given the time it needed to make that choice, though, because Delirious got to his feet and stabbed the machete in his hand through the killer’s front. The Trapper froze for a few moments before it shook awkwardly and then disintegrated into ashes. The machete landed on the ground with a  _ thunk, _ and Delirious took a step back.

 

Mark snapped himself out of his shocked trance and went back to prying open the bear trap. Jack’s breathing was growing more labored, and that wasn’t at all a good sign. Cartoonz came up and took one of the clasps and pressed down as hard as he could while Mark was doing the same to the other. Delirious took hold of the mouth of the bear trap and he started pulling on it.

 

Finally, after another agonizing minute, the trap came open, and Jack let out another gasp of pain. It was extremely difficult to transport Jack back to the hideout without causing him extra pain or to lose more blood, but they finally got him back to the shed where they found Avery still inside.

 

Avery had gone inside the shed and had been drawing out a game plan the whole time that the guys were outside, and she had no idea that they had gone anywhere until they burst through the door with a nearly unconscious Jack. Avery felt her eyes widen with horror at the sight of the terrible wounds that Jack had on his right leg and side, and she was immediately reaching for the first-aid kit.

 

Mark, Cartoonz, and Delirious lay Jack down carefully on the floor of the shed, and Avery was already at his side.

 

“What happened to you guys?!” Avery demanded, exasperated,  as she threw open the medkit.

 

“We heard The Trapper laying traps out nearby and went to investigate,” Mark began explaining. “But it attacked us and Delirious was taken. I told Jack to come back here while I went after Cartoonz to help rescue Delirious, but he must not have listened because he showed up at the basement!” Mark was just about crying.

 

“Well, we’re really lucky that he didn’t listen, because otherwise the two of us would probably be dead right now,” Cartoonz pointed out.

 

“We were running back here,” Mark continued through sobs. “And then Jack stopped me from stepping into a bear trap, but he was the one who was caught in it instead.”

 

“Hey, Delirious,” Cartoonz lightly tapped Delirious’ shoulder. “We should go take care of the rest of those traps around the shed.”

 

Delirious looked at Mark and Avery for a moment, and then at the half-dead Jack on the floor. He looked at Cartoonz again and gave a small nod, following him outside and closing the shed door behind him.

 

Avery was trying to stanch the bleeding on Jack’s side wound, since it was currently the most important, but Jack weakly pushed her hand away.

 

“Jack?” Avery looked at Jack’s pale face in confusion and fear.

 

“D-Don’t. . .” Jack mumbled faintly. “Don’t. . . bother. . .”

 

“Don’t bother? What. . . what are you saying, Jack?!” Avery asked desperately. “You have to let me stop the bleeding or you’ll lose too much blood! You’ve already lost a lot as it is!”

 

Jack weakly shook his head. “No. . . it’s too late,” he mumbled, his voice dry.

 

Mark sobbed again. “No! Don’t you be saying that it’s too late, Jack! Why are you giving up?!” He protested.

 

“M-Mark. . . I-” Jack started gasping for breath suddenly.

 

“Jack! You shouldn’t talk, you need your strength!” Avery instructed.

 

Jack was wheezing from the effort of just keeping his eyes open, and Mark was a crying mess at this point.

 

“Jack, you can’t die now. . .” Mark choked. “I. . . I need you, okay?”

 

Avery stared at Mark in slight surprise.

 

Jack looked weakly at Mark.

 

“You said you love me, and that you have for a while,” Mark began. “Well, I love you too, okay? So I can’t let you die, Jack. I need you to stay alive for that particular reason.”

 

Avery stared at Mark, and then looked at Jack again. She tried to go back to putting pressure on his bleeding side, but once again Jack gently pushed her hand away. He slowly raised his arm up to Mark, who took his hand. Mark slipped his other arm underneath Jack’s shoulders and lifted him up a little.

 

“Jack. . . please don’t go,” Mark begged quietly.

 

“Mark. . . I love you,” Jack whispered faintly.

 

Mark kissed Jack again as Avery watched sadly. Jack could feel what strength he had left fading, and with it went the pain, but at least he would have had the best last moment he could ask for.

 

More tears slipped from Mark’s eyes as Jack finally went limp and was gone. Outside the shed, Delirious and Cartoonz had finished with the traps, and had decided to just wait outside for any word. They didn’t know what was happening, but judging by the look on Cartoonz’s face, Delirious had the feeling that it wasn’t good. Cartoonz had looked inside the shed for a second before closing the door again, and his face was sad.

 

It was the look on Cartoonz’s face that told Delirious everything.

 

Jack was dead.


	10. One Left Behind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, Part 4 is a really long one. I'm not kidding, it will take ALL of March to publish. It will follow the same publishing schedule as Part 3, which is every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and because it's so long, I will start publishing it THIS Wednesday, so there is no break in between Parts 3 and 4.
> 
> This chapter is heartbreaking yet adorable in some ways....... What have I done?! :(

It was quiet for a while, and as they stood on either side of the hideout door, Delirious and Cartoonz were slowly growing anxious. Even though his saddened expression had basically said everything, Delirious still didn’t know exactly what Cartoonz had seen inside the shed. All he could do was wait there with him for Mark or Avery or both to come outside.

 

All the running around and the crazy mayhem of earlier events added in with his constantly low amount of strength had left Delirious quite exhausted, and he was now sitting on the ground. At this point, it was pretty clear that Delirious was more concerned about the others instead of himself. He was willing to drop dead from exhaustion if it meant that they were safe. Cartoonz wanted to say something about it at this particular moment, but he kept quiet and waited.

 

The ongoing silence around them was beginning to get more uncomfortable than it already was when the door between Delirious and Cartoonz finally opened. Avery was the one who stepped out, and her forlorn expression said many things. Mark came out a moment later, his face not only stained with tear streaks and grief, but slight anger as well. The hot emotion he showed just slightly was a bit startling to Delirious at first, but he gradually understood what it was for.

 

Both Mark and Avery had blood on their hands, but they said nothing, and neither did Delirious or Cartoonz. Mark paused in the shed doorway for a few seconds before he reached in and grabbed the doorknob, pulling the door closed behind him. That one act had Delirious feeling doleful and it took a bit of effort not to cry. It was a bit strange, in his opinion, considering that he hadn’t actually properly known Jack for all that long. But perhaps it wasn’t just because of Jack’s death that Delirious was upset.

 

Perhaps he was upset with himself for having put Cartoonz in danger.

 

Cartoonz pulled Delirious to his feet, and they followed after Mark and Avery, who had already set off to find the last three generators. Mark was noticeably quiet, but after losing someone you love so quickly through dramatically unexpected situations, who wouldn’t be? It seemed quite obvious that Mark wasn’t at all in the mood for the next upcoming events, especially leaving.

 

He wanted to escape this hell-hole, yes, but much less now that Jack wouldn’t be going with them.

 

Cartoonz, Delirious, and Avery remained silent as they worked on a generator while Mark was keeping watch. Once the generator was completed, the group set off for the next one, taking a quick stop to take down a nearby hook. They weren’t taking any chances, and that included the possibility that The Trapper could have already respawned and was out looking for them.

 

They walked for a long while, heading towards a faint light that slowly grew bright as they got closer. Having reached one of the other working generators, Avery was able to take a look at where they were. Once they continued walking, an already dismantled hook soon came into view. The four passed it, heading towards the generator behind it.

 

Mark helped out with repairing this generator, giving Delirious or Cartoonz the option of sitting out. Delirious obviously took that offer and waited nearby. The light came on and the group of four continued going. As it turned out, the last generator that was left to repair was the first one that Delirious had found and failed to completely repair, so it didn’t take very long to get it fixed up.

 

Avery was looking over the map in her hands, and then she placed it inside the flames of a burning barrel next to her.

 

“It just showed where the generators were, not any gates,” she said, shaking her head.

 

“There’s one over here,” Delirious stated confidently, heading away from the others.

 

They followed him until the trees thinned out plenty and a large metal door came into view. Cartoonz was first to rush forward and get his hands on the lever. He pulled it down and the sound of locks unhinging inside the door could suddenly be heard. Mark had stopped, and he watched the others for a couple of seconds before turning around and gazing off into the forest, specifically in the direction that the hideout was in.

 

“So, is this the end?” Delirious asked Avery. “Or is there more?”

 

Avery sighed, quite heavily. “No, I’m afraid that there is one more map that we’ll have to face. Remember I said that there are four maps and killers we’ll be going against?” Avery looked at Delirious, a little expectantly.

 

Delirious fell silent for a moment. “Nooo. . . ?” he said slowly, unsure.

 

Avery rolled her eyes, half annoyed, but a little amused by Delirious’ forgetfulness. “Well, there’s still one more map that we have to go against, and this time, I don’t think it will be the same.”

 

“How do you mean?” Delirious asked.

 

“Well, for one thing, she can teleport certain distances,” Avery explained.

 

“The killer?” Delirious was puzzled for a moment. “Wait, are you talking about the new killer? I thought that map wasn’t out yet?”

 

Avery shook her head. “It’s not, but I was able to get some leaked info about the new stuff in the coming update.”

 

“Oh,” Delirious suddenly understood what Avery was saying.

 

He jumped slightly at the loud bang behind them from the door opening.

 

“Sorry, Del, didn’t mean to scare ya. It was kinda out of my control,” Cartoonz said.

 

“No, that’s fine,” Delirious laughed lightly as he walked over to Cartoonz.

 

Avery started to follow, but she stopped and turned around. Mark was still gazing silently out into the misty trees, with his back turned to the others. Slowly, Avery moved towards him and was eventually standing at his side.

 

“Hey,” Avery said quietly. “How are you holding up?” she asked, a little nervous about Mark’s answer.

 

Mark sighed and stayed silent for a few seconds. Avery thought that he wasn’t going to answer and turned to head back towards Delirious and Cartoonz when she heard a soft mumble from Mark.

 

“What?” she asked, unsure of what he’d said.

 

Mark sighed again, shaking his head slightly. “I had noticed the way he would act,” he began. Avery blinked, but was eager to listen. “I had noticed that Jack was just slightly sensitive around things dealing with Septiplier. The only thing was, I never really took any of the reactions seriously. Thought nothing of it.” Mark brushed his fingers through his red hair once before he took off his glasses to clean them, as they were still stained with tears marks from earlier.

 

Avery glanced over her shoulder to see that Cartoonz and Delirious were talking quietly with each other, waiting for her and Mark to say that they were ready to go. She looked back at Mark, who put his glasses back on.

 

“Now I’m just wishing that I had noticed that one little thing in Jack earlier, that I had noticed the way he felt about me sooner.” Mark looked at the ground.

 

Avery thought for a moment, and then said, “Well, maybe Jack was just hiding them really well.” Mark looked slowly at her. Avery continued. “But if there’s one thing I know about love, it’s that it is always there, even when you don’t think so. I know that you and Jack were really close, but I also know that even though he’s gone, there are still plenty of other things back home that you care about. Other people. And they still care about you, Mark. They’ll always be there to help you through a hard situation, whatever it may be, because there’s always a solution to any problem. You just have to find it.”

 

Mark blinked, momentarily stunned. He glanced into the trees and then looked at Avery again. “Wow, thanks, Avery. I guess that. . . I guess that I never actually thought about that kind of thing before,” he said at last. “Thanks for that.”

 

Avery gave Mark a friendly smile before turning to join Delirious and Cartoonz. They were no longer talking, but had been watching the two of them patiently.

 

“We finally ready to go?” Cartoonz asked when Mark stopped next to Avery.

 

“I don’t see why not,” Mark said.

 

Avery was first to head through the door and she disappeared past the barrier. Mark followed after, but Delirious paused before going through. He looked at the ground for a second, then behind him at Cartoonz.

 

“See you on the other side?” he asked.

 

“Let’s hope so,” Cartoonz replied. “You be safe until I find you, man. `Kay?”

 

“Okay,” Delirious gave a small laugh. “You too, man.” he said before finally going through the barrier.

 

Cartoonz gave a quick glance behind him before following. Being inside a game was a strange yet interesting experience. It may have even been much more exciting if the video game in particular hadn’t been so dangerous.

 

Well, whatever happened on the next map, hopefully, he’d be able to prepare against it.


End file.
